Today is Pi Day (Get it? Because it's March 14th or 3/14!) so let's bake a pie to celebrate! One of my favorites is this upside down apple pie, a classic French dessert, with caramelized apples that all my family loves.
I adore it, first because it's so easy make and also because it's an open pie, so you end up eating less flour and carbohydrates. Here is my recipe. I hope you like it!
Apple Tarte Tatin (from Savoir Faire The Pleasures of The Palate)
Yield 8 servings
Ingredients for the crust:
1 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
1 Tsp. of sugar
12 Tbs. of cold butter
1/4 cup of ice water
Preparation:
Place the flour and the sugar in the bowl of a food processor, using the dough blade. Pulse.
Add half of the butter. Pulse a few times. Add the rest of the butter and keep pulsing until the butter and the flour form coarse crumbs.
Add some of the water and pulse a couple of times, adding more water until the crumbs form a ball.
Take the dough and make a disc. Place it on a floured plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Ingredients for the apple filling:
3/4 cup of sugar
6-7 Granny Smith apples, peeled, quartered and cored
2 Tbs. of lemon juice
4 Tbs. of butter
Whipping cream or crème fraîche
Preparation:
In a bowl, toss the apples with the lemon juice and set aside. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
In a 10-inch skillet over low heat, cook the sugar until it begins to melt. Stir until the sugar turns brown.
Remove the pan from the heat and arrange the apples rounded side down in concentric circles. Fill the gaps with more pieces of apples. Place the butter over the apples. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes until the sugar turns into a dark caramel.
In a floured surface, with a roller, roll the dough into a circle 1/4-inch thick. Carefully place the dough circle on top of the skillet with the apples. Trim the dough.
Place the skillet on the bottom rack of the oven and bake it for 25 minutes, until the crust is golden.
Remove from the oven and let stand for 15 minutes.
With a knife, loosen the tart around the edges. Place a serving dish on top of the skillet. With the help of two kitchen towels, quickly and carefully, invert the tart into the dish.
Serve warm with whipping cream or crème fraîche.
Image via Enriqueta Lemoine
