We’re back home from our trip to Australia. After cooking for 4 weeks in a very small primitive kitchen inside a camper van I was really looking forward to cooking in my own kitchen again. During our absence, the wooden floor in our living room and ground floor has been sanded and varnished to make it look as good as new again. It was convenient to have this done during our absence, as all the furniture needed to be removed and the varnish needs to harden for a few days before you can walk on it again.
Unfortunately, when we came home we saw that they had not done a good job and so now an additional layer of varnish will be applied. This means that I won’t be able to use my kitchen for another week 😦 But luckily I have friends who don’t mind having me come over to use their kitchen 🙂
Since a lot of my supplies and equipment are stored in the garage and cannot be reached easily and it’s always difficult to cook in a strange kitchen, for dessert I resorted to this ‘cheat’ to make something that is like tarte tatin, but a lot simpler to make.
The main cheat is buying ready made pastry dough, and the other is not bothering to cook the apples first or even turning over the tarts. This is simply pastry dough with a bit of sugar, cinnamon and butter, baked in the oven. With a glass of sauternes, it still was a nice dessert. This also reminded me that I should do a post on a proper tarte tatin, so that will be coming later this fall. Here’s what I did this time around to keep things as simple as possible.
Ingredients
For 4 servings
2 apples, I used reinettes
4 squares of pastry dough, about 10 cm (4 inches)
cinnamon to taste
4 Tbsp sugar
4 Tbsp butter
confectioners’ sugar for presentation
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 225C/440F (static) or 200C/390F (fan). Core and peel the apples, and cut them into 16 wedges each. If you work quickly, there is no need to rub them with lemon juice. (But you could to prevent the apple slices from turning brown.)
Put a teaspoon of sugar on each of the sheets of pastry. Spread out the sugar evenly and press it a bit into the pastry so it will stick.
Arrange the pastry sheets on a cookie sheet lined with oven paper, sugar side down. Sprinkle each sheet with a teaspoon of sugar and arrange the apple wedges on them.
Sprinkle each tartlet with a teaspoon of sugar and cinnamon to taste. Finish with some knobs of butter.
Bake the apple tartlets at 225C/440F (static) or 200C/390F (fan) for 15 to 20 minutes or until the pastry has puffed up and the apples are golden. The only tricky part of this recipe is that the sugar on the bottom should be caramelized, but not burned.
Serve warm, sprinkled with confectioners’ sugar to make it look more pretty.
Wine pairing
We enjoyed this with a glass of sauternes, but another white dessert wine that has a sweetness and acidity that matches that of the baked apples will work as well.
Stefan's Gourmet Blog 
How disappointing thinking you were returning home to a beautiful as new floor only to be disappointed. Aussie tradesmen are a constant letdown. We underwent a huge renovation 3 years ago and every time I look at the floor my heart sinks. We just wanted to resume a normal life so gave up complaining about the quality of workmanship. Big mistake, one day we’ll have to face sanding and resurfacing again. Hope your floor is perfect soon and you can get back to your familiar tools equipment and space.
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These look excellent and very simple. It’s a pity about the floor but what can you do?
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Not much, but so glad it’s fixed now!
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The floor has been fixed, so soon we’ll be able to resume normal life again. Hopefully we won’t need to do this again for another 10 years or so, and then I’ll have someone come in and check long before we come home.
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Speculaas of koekkruiden kan ook een lekkere doch simpele aanvulling zijn, net als gewelde rozijnen. Ben van plan om een binnenkort een appeltaart te bakken op de BBQ. Jammer dat je de keuken niet kon gebruiken, straks kan je weer helemaal los gaan.
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Just watched Julia on Youtube last night doing Tarte Tatin – what a hoot! It was a flop, but of course she made the best of it. You should watch it before writing yours!
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That sounds like something to include in my research, thanks for the tip!
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Appeltaart op de BBQ zou wel leuk geweest zijn in Australië 🙂 Gewelde rozijnen gebruik ik altijd in Nederlandse appeltaart, maar in de Franse versie ben ik ze nog nooit tegengekomen. Speculaaskruiden gebruiken is een interessante suggestie.
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coincidentally, I tried making my first from scratch classic tart tatin a week or two ago. It was a total disaster that would have been worth posting but I wasnt taking pictures hahaha I should try it this way next time! 🙂
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It’s not a real tatin of course but in taste it comes pretty close. Perhaps the post that I’m going to do about a proper tatin will inspire you to try the real thing again 🙂
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i’m sure it will! 🙂
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What a great dessert this was, especially considering you couldn’t cook it in your own home. I thought you had wanted to cook an upside-down cake (which is what a Tatin is after all) because you’d just got back from down under … ha ha ha! Please post photos of your new floor once it is ready and ready for use!
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LOL 🙂 Next time I will cook it properly upside down. This does taste quite a bit like tatin, but of course it’s not the real thing.
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Welcome home, though I’m sure this was hardly the homecoming you’d envisioned. How very disappointing for you both and how nice to have such generous friends. Yes, this tatin may be a “cheat” but I bet it was delicious, Stefan. I hope you get back into your kitchen very soon.
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Thanks John. I’m so glad I’m back in the kitchen now 🙂
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What a bummer about the kitchen!! I would have been really upset. When we remodeled out house, the wall in the area where we put the range had to be redone 3 different times. I was livid. Well, I’m sure you’re glad it’s now fixed. So, congrats on the new floor. 🙂 The dessert looks quite tasty and very simple. We do things like this periodically when we want dessert. I’m looking forward to your post on the real tatin. 🙂
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I was definitely upset, and am now so glad it’s over. We celebrated with dessert ancho chile, which I will post about before the real tatin 🙂
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The wonders of puff pastry never cease to amazing 😉
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I’ve made a proper tatin from scratch over the weekend and although it’s a bit more work, it’s much better 🙂 Blog post to follow…
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Oh me – oh my! I am looking forward to this post! Your tartin will be divine, without question….
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I’ve already made it — post following soon — and it was indeed quite good 🙂
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MMMM. 🙂 Noms!
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