This take on a classic French apple pastry dessert, Tarte Tatin, is easy enough to make any night of the week! Did I mention that it’s stunning? Serve warm as-is, with vanilla ice cream or homemade Vanilla Whipped Cream.
I’m all about desserts that look and taste like you’ve spent hours making them, when it really took no time! This apple tarte tatin is an apple season MUST. It’s just too good and too simple to not give it a try.
Why You’ll Love this Tarte Tatin Recipe
- SO easy. While most tarte tatin recipes require quite a bit of time, this recipe only takes 15 minutes to prep and 20 minutes to bake!
- Less dishes. Instead of caramelizing apples in a pan with butter and sugar, your oven will do the hard work! Thinly sliced apples layered on a buttery dark brown sugar mixture will bake and bubble into a light caramel-like sauce, infusing into the apples.
- Buttery, sweet perfection. The flaky puff pastry, the rich brown sugar butter sauce and sweet, tart apples…oh my!
- So beautiful. I mean, look at it!
What is Tarte Tatin?
Tarte Tatin is a French pastry fruit tart, classically made with apples. The apples are caramelized in butter and sugar, and baked underneath puff pastry. Once baked, the whole tart is inverted and served (kind of like this Peach Upside Down Cake!).
Ingredients
- Honey Crisp apples – I find that honey crisp apples are the best apples for tarte tatin, but you can also use other baking apples like Granny Smith or Pink Lady.
- Store-bought puff pastry – puff pastry can usually be found right in the frozen section of your grocery store. Make sure to thaw it several hours before making tarte tatin!
- Dark brown sugar – dark brown sugar has a rich, complex caramel taste that makes tarte tatin truly sing!
- Butter – butter is a traditional ingredient in tarte tatin. There’s really no substitute! Butter heated with brown sugar creates a delicious caramel-like sauce that the apples bake in.
- Vanilla extract – I love vanilla! It flavors the whole tarte and accentuates the flavor of the apples.
How to Make Tarte Tatin
- Make “sauce.”
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Add vanilla and dark brown sugar to melted butter. Stir. Mixture will resemble wet sand. Add mixture to a greased or nonstick 9” cake pan, spreading out evenly.
- Add apples.
Layer apple slices, starting from the outside of the pan, working your way in. Overlap slices slightly.
- Add puff pastry.
Add thawed puff pastry sheet to the top of the apple slices, so that the puff pastry drapes over the sides of the cake pan. Use a knife to trim puff pastry so that any pieces that are hanging over the sides of the cake pan are cut, leaving a small border of extra dough tucked on the inside of your pan. Pinch the extra dough against the rim of the pan to seal the tart shut.
- Bake.
Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes until puff pastry is golden.
- Rest and serve.
Let tarte tatin rest for at least 15-20 minutes before inverting (flipping) onto a plate. This is important! Serve as-is or with vanilla ice cream.
More Fall Dessert Recipes You’ll Love!
- Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Mom’s Cinnamon Sugar Pie Crust Cookies
- Grandma’s Butterscotch Pudding Icebox Cake
- Baked Pears With Honey Butter
- Soft & Chewy Oatmeal Cookies
Easy Tarte Tatin
Equipment
- 9" round cake pan (8" or 10" works too!)
Ingredients
- 2 Honey Crisp apples, cut into ¼ inch slices
- 1 large sheet store-bought puff pastry, about ½ pound, thawed
- ⅓ cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons salted butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Add vanilla and dark brown sugar to melted butter. Stir. Mixture will resemble wet sand. Add mixture to a greased or nonstick round cake pan, spreading out evenly.
- Layer apple slices, starting from the outside of the pan, working your way in. Overlap slices slightly.
- Add thawed puff pastry sheet to the top of the apple slices, so that the puff pastry drapes over the sides of the cake pan. Use a knife to trim puff pastry so that any pieces that are hanging over the sides of the cake pan are cut, leaving a small border of extra dough tucked on the inside of your pan. Pinch the extra dough against the rim of the pan to seal the tart shut.
- Bake at 375°F for 20-25 minutes until puff pastry is golden.
- Let tarte tatin rest for at least 15-20 minutes before inverting (flipping) onto a plate. This is important! Serve as-is or, with vanilla ice cream or Vanilla Whipped Cream.
Video
Notes
- You may not use both apples in their entirety. I usually use about 1 ½ apples per tarte.
- You can use a different type of baking apple, like Granny Smith or Pink Lady.
- No need to peel your apples.
- If you don’t have salted butter, add a pinch of salt.
- Puff pastry can typically be found in the frozen section of your grocery store! Thaw it in the fridge several hours before preparing your tarte tatin!
- Tarte tatin is best served 15-20 minutes after baking. However you can refrigerate it for up to 3 days, reheating in a 350 degree oven until warm.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was the perfect recipe to do with my kindergartners during our study of France. We used a peeler/slicer/ corer tool that they loved to crank, and the all the other parts were easy and fun for them. I just had to melt the butter and manage the oven and the final flip at the end. They loved it! And I was grateful it was so simple and delicious!
Hi Carolyn,
This is so lovely to hear!! Thank you so much for sharing 🙂 Let me know if you all try any other recipes!
Frace
Hi Carolyn,
This is so lovely to hear!! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂 Let me know if you all try any other recipes!
Grace
So simple and works a treat. The resting period is essential for an easy flip, great tip!
Thanks so much for your comment! So glad you liked the tarte tatin!
Grace