Casa De Morrill

This recipe is courtesy of Jody Jordan (fondly known as Oompa). The tart came out splendidly. As soon as I develop my film, I’ll post pictures of it. Quite beautiful.

A few notes before I post the recipe. The recipe originally called for 11 apples. I used 8 and still had to cram apples into the pan to fit that many. So, I wrote 8 apples in the recipe, but it’s you’re choice in the long run. Also, I did not have a 12″ non-stick skillet. I had a regular 12″ skillet and the recipe still worked fine. Nothing stuck. The tart flipped out of the pan beautifully. If you have a large cast iron skillet, that should work fine as well. Okay, on to the recipe.

Tarte Tatin

Sour Cream Pastry Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter
6 tbsp chilled sour cream

Apple Filling Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
8 medium-size Pippin apples (about 4 3/4 lb.) Note: Golden Delicious also work well here
1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)

Creme fraiche or sour cream (garnish) Note: Vanilla ice cream is a more common and very suitable garnish, if you’re looking for something sweet

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Position rack in center of oven.

For the pastry: Blend flour, sugar and salt in large bowl of heavy-duty mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Add butter (cut into 1 tbsp chunks) and beat at medium-low speed until butter is size of small lima beans, about 3 minutes. Add sour cream and beat until moist clumps form, about 1 minute. Gather the dough into a smooth ball; flatten into a 6-inch diameter disk. Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours. Note: The pastry can be made one day ahead. If doing this, keep refrigerated. Let dough soften slightly before rolling out

For the filling: Spread butter over bottom of 12-inch diameter ovenproof nonstick skillet with sloping sides (skillet should be at least 1 3/4 inches deep). Reserve 2 tbsp of the sugar and sprinkle the remaining sugar over the butter. Place the skillet over medium-low heat and cook until butter melts, the sugar beings to dissolve and the mixture begins to bubble, about 3 minutes.

Remove from heat. Arrange the apples on their sides around edge of skillet, placing tightly together. Working inwards, tightly place apples with their pointed ends up. Don’t worry if all the apples won’t fit. Sprinkle with the remaining 2 tbsp sugar.

Set skillet over medium-high heat. Boil until thick peanut butter color syrup forms, repositioning the skillet often for even cooking. As the mixture cooks, add the remaining apples as space opens up. This will take approximately 45 minutes. Remove from heat and wrap the handle several times with heavy-duty foil

Roll out pastry on floured surface to 12-inches round. Place pastry over apples. Cut four 2-inch slits in top of pastry. Press pastry down around the apples at the edge of the skillet. Brush pastry with some of the egg glaze.

Bake tart until pastry is deep golden brown, about 30 minutes. Transfer the skillet to a work surface. Let cool a few minutes. Cut around the edge of skillet to loosen pastry. Place large plate over skillet. Using oven mitts as aid, hold skillet and platter together tightly and invert, allowing the tart to fall onto the plate. Carefully lift off skillet. Rearrange any apples that many have become dislodged.

Cool tart for 30 minutes. Cut warm tart into wedges. Serve with creme fraiche or other choice garnish.

While I take a break from looking at code, I thought I’d continue following the herd. This is my new blogchalk:
United States, Alabama, Madison, Breckenridge, English, Katharine, Female, 21-25, reading, cooking, baking, spinning, computers.