Tarte Tatin from Vonken

About this recipe

Ingredients

• 5 apples with a good sweet-sour ratio (e.g., Jonagold or an apple from the tree if you have an apple tree)
• 100 g butter
• 220 g sugar
• 1 puff pastry
• 1 lemon or lime
• 1 sheet of baking paper
• 1 cake pan
• optional: 2 sticks of cinnamon
• optional: 1 vanilla pod
• optional: 2 pieces of star anise

Preparation

1. Peel the apples and remove the cores. Cut them into 2 or 4 equal pieces (you can choose how you want your pie to look). Place them immediately in a bowl, sprinkle with a light layer of sugar, and mix the pieces together briefly. Squeeze half a lemon over the apples. This will prevent them from turning brown.
2. Place a small pan on the stove or in your Vonken and make sure there are no flames coming out of the fire. A temperature between 200 and 300 degrees is fine. Add the butter and let it melt.
3. Once the butter starts to bubble, add the sugar and, optionally, vanilla (scrape the vanilla seeds from the pods and add them to the mixture together with the pods), cinnamon sticks, and star anise. Allow to cook and make sure the sugar is completely absorbed and forms a nice creamy caramel. Add the juice of the other half lemon.
4. Add the apples to the pan and cook for a few minutes. Keep the heat low and stir gently so you don't end up with apple sauce! You can remove the vanilla pods, cinnamon, and star anise pieces, but you can also leave them in as a decorative element in the pie.
5. When the apples turn golden brown, pour the entire mixture onto a piece of baking paper in a pie crust. Make sure the mixture does not get under the baking paper.
6. Place the puff pastry on top and press down firmly on the edges so that they are pressed into the pie crust. Prick the dough here and there with a fork to prevent it from puffing up completely.
7. Place in your Vonken at a temperature between 180 and 250 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Make sure there are no flames and sweep all the coals to one side. You may turn the cake over once.
8. Remove the tart from the oven when the puff pastry has risen nicely and turned golden brown. Carefully turn the tart out onto a sturdy plate and remove the tart tin. Cut into neat triangles. A scoop of vanilla ice cream works wonders here.
9. Did you know that a Tarte Tatin tastes even better if you leave it to rest in the refrigerator overnight after baking?