Apple pie, apple cake, appelbollen, ... Name any dessert with apple in it and I'll probably love it. Same goes for Tarte Tatin. I've been wanting to make it for a while now, just because it looks so pretty. Well, last month in Paris at Ladurée, I discovered how delicious it is too. Which made it move to the top of my to bake-list.

Now, as you can tell from the pictures, something went wrong.. Isn't Tarte Tatin supposed to have a caramel layer on top? Yes, it very much does. There's quite a story behind my caramel. So the first time I was making it, I accidentally left it on too long because I was looking for a proper mould. So, it became too hard and too dark to use. It wasn't really a problem though, because I scraped off everything and now we have some darn delicious caramel. So, onto the second try.


This time, everything went quite okay. In the meantime, I had given up my search for a mould and decided to use my spring form. I was a little scared the caramel could run out, but I thought it would be thight enough. So in went the caramel, then the apples and the puff pastry to top it off. When I opened the oven 30 minutes later, all of the caramel was on the bottom. Yes. It all came out anyway.

By that time I really didn't want to make caramel a third time to drizzle it over, so I decided to use chunks of my first caramel. And it was delicious! I also recommend using some maple syrup, it is so delicious. Oh, and definitely use a different mould. That would be my number one tip. But since it was really delicious, I decided to share it anyway. So I hope yours turns out great!

Ingredient
for 1 pie, approximately 8 servings

• 250 grams puff pastry (mine was storebought)
• 4 - 6 apples
• 25 grams butter
• 75 grams sugar
• juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Peel the apples and cut them into quarters. Sprinkle the lemon juice on so they don't turn brown. Put the puff pastry in the freezer or the fridge so it stays cool. Make sure it has a round shape.

If you have a tatin mould or an oven proof pan, put that on medium to high heat and add in the butter. If you don't, just do it in a pan. As soon as the butter starts bubbling, add in the sugar. Let it dissolve. Turn the heat higher so the sugar starts to caramelize. Take off the heat. The caramel gets dark when it cools, so make sure to do it early enough.

Pour the caramel into your mold (not necessary when you use a tatin mould or a pan). Put in the apples so they cover the complete mould. Put the puff pastry on top off the apples and tuck in the sides so they cover up the pie completely.

Put the mould into the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Take out off the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes. Use a small knife to loosen up the sides of the pie so it will come out. Use a plate that is slightly larger than your mould, and put in on top. Turn around quickly but carefully so the pie is turned around. Sprinkle some of the juice over it and serve hot, with cream. Enjoy!