Tuesdays with Dorie BWD: Tarte Tatin

November 12, 2024 at 4:00 pm | Posted in BWD, groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 6 Comments
Tags: baking, pie

My mom is a very good cook. We rarely went out to eat growing up or were allowed such delicacies as frozen pizza or fish sticks. She made dinner from recipes in newspapers and magazines that caught her eye, or she’d find something nice on sale at the grocery store and take it from there (she still cooks this way, and so do I). Julie has never been quite as into baking, but she does have a few standards she’s perfected over the years and will make from memory when she’s in the mood. Apple pie is one of those standards, but when she says “apple pie” she’s not talking about the traditional American kind…she’s really talking about a Tarte Tatin, made just like this one. In fact, I don’t remember her ever once making a double-crusted apple pie with lots of warm spices. She did live in Paris for a couple of years before I came on the scene, so maybe that’s the backstory of her apple pie, I don’t really know.

Most Tatins are fully made in a skillet, with the apples first cooked down a bit in the caramel before being topped with puff pastry (usually) and stuck in the oven to fully bronze. As soon as it’s done, you put on your longest oven mitts, say a quick prayer and awkwardly flip the hot and heavy skillet with molten, drippy caramel onto a plate to unmold. This version makes things a bit easier and less scary. First, make a caramel, whisk in butter and pour it into the bottom of a cake pan. Then, at your leisure after the caramel has cooled, arrange chunky apple halves or quarters in a nice pattern and top with your choice of pie dough or puff. I took care of both the caramel step and making/rolling out a round of Dorie’s All-Butter Pie Dough the day before I baked my Tatin. (My mother does the same, lining her tin with caramel and making a brisée dough the night before…but her tin is an ancient metal pie plate instead of a cake pan, and she makes a clear caramel instead and then dots the apple chunks with bits of butter as she arranges then in the pie plate.) After the Tatin is fully baked, instead of flipping it right out, you let it sit for half an hour so any excess caramel and juice absorbs back into the apples. By the time you invert it, it’s cool and neat, with soft, caramelized apples and no soggy bottoms! I think Julie would give this her stamp of approval.

If you don’t have the book Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty & Simple by Dorie Greenspan yet, get it and join us as we bake through it every second and fourth Tuesdays! Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and all the other participation deets over on Tuesdays with Dorie!

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Such a lovely tarte tatin!

Comment by Judy— November 12, 2024 #

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Looks so perfect! Just the right amount of apples and the colour is gorgeous!

Comment by Mardi (eat. live. travel. write.)— November 12, 2024 #

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I enjoyed the family story, living in Paris sounds wonderful. Ah, whisky the butter in is the trick. I still need to perfect this one.

Comment by Diane Zwang— November 13, 2024 #

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I loved reading this Steph…and your Tatin looks beautifully delicious!

Comment by isthisakeeper— November 15, 2024 #

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Double the fun over here this week…the lovely tarte tatin that you made, and at the interesting family history bits that had me smiling through the entire post…beautiful job with this recipe, the color of the apples is just so enticing. I made the Walnut Pie so I have the tarte tatin to look forward to for next time.

Comment by Kayte Gerth— November 18, 2024 #

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What a beautiful arrangement of the apples of your tatin? The best part is the back story of your mom making her apple pie. Tart tatin with a memorable family history behind it; there is so much to like about there.

Comment by Shirley @ EverOpenSauce— November 24, 2024 #

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