While the baba was having her nap this morning I did a bit of browsing around to find out the history of this gutsy dessert. We have Miss Fanny Tatin to thank for accidentally making the first in the 1880s at Hotel Tatin (belonging to her and her sister Caroline) in Lamotte-Beuvron, France. It’s obvious why we are still making these over 130 years later.

The butter and sugar create a beautiful shine over the apples, it looks so glorious. I love to eat this fresh out of the oven with a scoop of melty ice cream – Monkey is an absolute fan. It is warming and comforting and I think I am going to be making a bunch of these this winter.

Ingredients

1 packet puff pastry, thawed
1 large tin pie apples (725 g)
150 g castor sugar
80 g butter
1 tablespoon water

What needs to be done

Cover the bottom of a non-stick oven-proof frying pan with sugar, add the butter and water. Place the pan over high heat and wait for the sugar to begin to melt. Stir the mixture until it becomes a warm caramel colour, careful not to let it go too far and burn.
Then arrange the apple slices on the caramel, place them in neat, tightly packed concentric rings.
Trim the pastry to fit the pan and cover the apples with it. Tuck the pastry in around the edges – please be careful -I use a wooden spoon to do this because the caramel can give you a nasty burn.
Bake at 180° C for 25 to 30 minutes.
Place the serving plate over the frying pan and flip over, serve hot with ice cream.

Eat up and keep warm, looks like its going to be a chilly one.