The Best Classic French Apple Tarte Tatin Recipe | The Pure Taste (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep tarte tatin from getting soggy? ›

This may be more of an issue with apples than with pears. Some bakers suggest cutting the fruit and placing it in the refrigerator overnight to dry out and prevent this. Another reason the dessert may become soggy is if it sits out too long. Tarte tatin is best enjoyed warm as the crust will get soggy as it cools.

The tarte Tatin (French pronunciation: [taʁt tatɛ̃]), named after the Tatin sisters who invented it and served it in their hotel as its signature dish, is a pastry in which the fruit (usually apples) is caramelized in butter and sugar before the tart is baked.

Named after the woman who invented it, the Tarte Tatin (tart tah-TAN) is a famous French "upside-down" caramelized apple tart or Tarte aux pommes (caramélisé). Basically, the apples are underneath the dough – topsy-turvy indeed.

Many French cooks have a pan that is designed specifically for making this dish. The Copper-Core Petite Brasier the perfect pan for making a Tarte Tatin. It is about 1/2-inch wider than traditional pans and can hold close to 5 pounds of apples. A perfect Tarte Tatin is unforgettable but its success is in the details.

Bake for about 30 minutes until the pastry is golden, then remove from the oven. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then place a plate, slightly larger than the pan, on top and then, very carefully, using oven gloves, invert the tart on to the plate. Best served warm, with crème fraîche.

The best way to eat it is 1-2 hours after cooking, when it is still warm and the pastry is crisp. You can cook the tart a day in advance, keep it in the mould and reheat it at 150°C for 20 minutes.

The results are way more delicate and not as sweet as a shortbread shell, but provides the perfect base for our apples. The best apples for an apple tart: We're partial to Granny Smith, Honeycrip, and Gala, but you can really use any baking apple that you prefer in this recipe!

Granny Smith (Tart)

Granny Smiths are typically my go-to apple for baking, so I'll always have them on hand during the fall months. Their tart, citrusy flavor make them perfect for sweet baked goods, where there's sugar in the recipe. I love using these for homemade caramel apples, too.

Granny Smith apples: Bright green with a citrusy flavor, Granny Smith apples are perhaps the most popular baking apple in the US. These apples are tart and crunchy with high acidity. They don't have the strongest apple flavor, so they're great for mixing with sweeter varieties for a balanced apple pie filling.

Tarte Tatin is an oozy caramelized dessert with melt-in-your-mouth apples and a semi-flaky crust. When I know it's coming, I wish it were the only course of the meal. It really is that good.

What can I use instead of a tarte tatin tin? ›

You could use a cast iron ovenproof pan but as these are sturdier in construction than a tart tatin pan it will need to be preheated in the oven for slightly longer than the thin metal pan. We would suggest giving it 10-15 minutes in the oven before using.

Meaning of tarte tatin in English

a sweet dish of apples that have been cooked in sugar and butter until they are brown, covered with pastry, baked and then turned upside down: My friend chose the tarte tatin served with whipped cream. She tucked into an enormous slice of tarte Tatin.

Choose a pan: a copper tarte tatin mold will be perfect (here's a link to a good one), but you can also use an iron skillet (as long as it doesn't smell like salmon or something) or even a heavy stainless steel (like All-Clad) or non-stick sauté pan.

Put the sugar in a flameproof 20cm ceramic tatin dish or a 20cm ovenproof heavy-based frying pan and place over a medium-high heat.

9.5-inch: If you search for tart pans, you'll likely get a lot of results that are 9.5-inch.

Some people like to paint the surface of the pastry base with lightly beaten egg white after the beans have been removed and before returning the dish to the oven as the egg white cooks onto the surface of the pastry and can act as a slight sealant to help to keep the pastry crisp.

A soggy bottom crust happens when the wet filling of your pie soaks into the raw pie dough beneath before it's had a chance to set, causing it to become sodden and gummy. This is particularly problematic with both fruit pie and custard fillings because they have high moisture content.

If your butter tarts unfortunately turn out too soggy, it's likely your filling was too watered down or your pastry was rolled too thin. Next time, make sure your pastry is only rolled out to a 1/4-inch-thickness.

The most common way to ward off a soggy pie crust is by a process called blind baking. Blind baking means you pre-bake the crust (sometimes covered with parchment or foil and weighed down with pie weights to prevent the crust from bubbling up) so that it sets and crisps up before you add any wet filling.