Master pâtissier Eric Lanlard runs cookery school and caféCake Boy. Eric trained as an apprentice chocolatier, and his latest book, Chocolat, has over 100 recipes that chocoholics will love.
See more of Eric Lanlard’s recipes
Eric Lanlard
Master pâtissier Eric Lanlard runs cookery school and caféCake Boy. Eric trained as an apprentice chocolatier, and his latest book, Chocolat, has over 100 recipes that chocoholics will love.
See more of Eric Lanlard’s recipes
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Ingredients
1 x 375g sheet all-butter puff pastry
plain flour, to dust
55g soft unsalted butter
100g golden caster sugar
9 pears (we used Conference)
2 tsp juniper berries
crème fraîche or fromage frais, to serve
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Step by step
Unroll the pastry sheet onto a lightly floured surface then roll out thinner to a square. Using a plate that is slightly larger than the top of your pan as a template, cut out a circle of pastry. Chill on a baking tray while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
Cut the butter into small cubes and scatter into an 18cm base diameter tarte tatin pan (or ovenproof frying pan). Sprinkle in the sugar.
Next, peel the pears, cut them in half and scoop out the cores with a teaspoon or melon baller. Put the pan of butter and sugar over a medium-high heat. Watch the pan carefully at this stage, moving it around if one area is browning faster than another, and shaking the pan rather than stirring. Once the sugar has caramelised, remove from the heat. Lightly squash the juniper berries with the back of a spoon (without breaking them up) and scatter into the caramel.
Preheat the oven to 220°C, fan 200°C, gas 7.
Tightly pack the pears in a circle in the pan of caramel, with their more attractive rounded sides downwards. Slightly overlap the pears at an angle in order to pack as many in as you can. Place the pan back on a medium-high heat and cook for a good 15 minutes or until the pears are getting nicely caramelised underneath. The pears will shrink slightly as they cook – do not be afraid to add another slice or two to the tarte.
Remove from the heat and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Now press the pastry circle on to the pears, tucking the edges down the side of the pan, then transfer the pan to a baking tray in the centre of the oven.
Bake for 25 minutes or until the pastry is a beautiful golden colour and well risen. Do not worry if some of the caramelised juices bubble out. Remove from the oven and leave to sit for 5 minutes. Then take a warm serving plate, press against the pastry and invert the pan, giving it a good shake. The tart should slip out, juices and all. Serve with lots of crème fraîche or fromage frais.
Serve with
Ultimate vanilla custard
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However, I recommend you make the recipe all in one go to avoid the pastry going soggy. If you plan on making this in advance and caramelising the apples first, then wait for them to cool completely before adding the pastry. So make the recipe all in one go, leave the tart to cool then upturn onto a serving plate.
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.
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.
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 Silverwood Bakeware Tarte Tatin Pan is perfect for avid bakers. Resilient and heavy-duty, it will not warp, rust or peel. The alloy core spreads heat fast and evenly, producing perfect baking in a reduced time.
And finally, the most frustrating pastry problem of all – the soggy bottom. This normally happens when the oven is not hot enough or the pastry is not baked for long enough. However, it can also be because too much water was added to the dough.
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.
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.
Like many great dishes, the tarte tatin is said to have been born out of culinary clumsiness. The legend goes that it has its origins in the kitchens of a railway hotel in the town of Lamotte-Beuvron, amid the forests of Sologne, just south of Orléans in north-central France.
We owe the tasty recipe of the Tarte Tatin to an accidental discovery. Legend has it that the tart appeared at the end of the 19th century. Two sisters ran a hotel and restaurant in Lamotte-Beuvron, Caroline Tatin, who took care of the reception while Stéphanie Tatin, did the cooking.
When the pastry is nicely browned and crisp, it's done. This means that if the sautéed apples aren't mostly cooked, that they're still crunchy inside, it needs more time on the stove before it goes in the oven or the baked tatin won't have perfectly tender apples.
Use a small sharp knife to trim the hard cores and seeds from the center of each quarter; don't worry about being too neat. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate, lightly covered, for at least one day or up to three days. (This key step reduces the amount of liquid in the tart.
Quickly and carefully invert the tart onto the platter so the apples are on top. If any apples stick to the skillet, set them back into the tart. Serve warm or at room temperature, with dollops of crème fraîche, whipped cream, or ice cream.
1 Frozen Tarte Tatin545g. All butter puff pastry topped with caramelised apple slices A classic recipe made in the South of France. Sweet apples in rich caramel on crisp, all butter pastry.
Two favorite French classics are the tatin, an upside-down dessert traditionally made with apples, and the simple tartine, an open-faced sandwich served on freshly baked crusty bread that is becoming increasingly popular across the United States.
Some folks brush their pie crust's interior with beaten egg white or coat it with melted butter to create a moisture-resistant barrier between filling and pastry. Veteran baker and author Dorie Greenspan uses bread crumbs to soak up any excess liquid.
Pastry being soggy in the middle is a result of the pastry being undercooked. Don't place the pastry on too high a shelf in the oven. One way to prevent soggy bottom pastry is to blind bake the pastry – This means partially or completely bake the pastry before adding the filling.
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