A classic apple tarte tatin recipe made with homemade rough pastry dough and crisp Jonagold apples.
Updated: November 2023
Highlighting Simple Ingredients
The best desserts are the simplest desserts. A few flavors, choice ingredients, and enough finesse that everything together is so much better than any of the ingredients alone.
It took me a while to really understand the classic tarte tatin. For the longest time, it seemed to me it was just an upside down apple pie. Don’t freak out – I’ve seen the error of my ways. A good tarte tatin is spare, with a deep caramel, pleasantly soft apples, and a dreamy puff of pastry to hold it all together. Here, I’ve swayed from tradition only slightly by adding a pinch of sea salt. And instead of store bought puff pastry, I went ahead and made my own rough puff pastry (which is, if you’re worried, fairly simple to make.)
Start with a Flavorful Apple
I made the tarte tatin with crisp Jonagold apples, and loved how their toothsome texture and subtle sweetness baked up. Though some cooks may be very attached to certain varieties of apple, my preferences change with the season – no matter what time of year, I look for crisp, flavorful varieties.
Beautiful Flavor
Now, about that tarte. Deep caramel, big hunks of apple, and a pillowy, flaky pastry can all be yours. Though a tarte tatin isn’t complicated to make, per se, I’ve written out detailed – possibly overly-detailed – instructions because I want your creation to be perfect. Don’t be daunted – it’s going to be great.
If you’re looking for more dessert inspiration, check out the ‘Dessert’ page in my recipe index. Or follow Brooklyn Supper on Instagram for all kinds of seasonal recipe inspiration.
A classic apple tarte tatin recipe made with homemade rough pastry dough. My rough puff pastry recipe was created with with guidance from the helpful videos on Poires au Chocolate. Tarte Tatin recipe adapted from Orangette via Smitten Kitchen.
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, frozen
- 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 6 tablespoons ice water
- 6 medium apples , peeled and quartered with cores cut out (go with a crisp, flavorful variety like Jonagold or MacIntosh)
- 1 1/4 cups white granulated sugar , divided
- 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 recipe puff pastry (above)
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To make rough puff pastry dough, use a fork to blend flour and sea salt. Grate in frozen butter. Use fingertips to rub butter into flour, though not as thoroughly as you might for a traditional pie dough. Drizzle in half the ice water, turn dough until it’s absorbed. Add remaining water, turning dough once more. Gather dough into a loose mound; there will be a few dry bits, but that’s fine. Turn mound out onto a sheet of plastic, form a loose disc, and wrap tightly. Set in refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes.
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On a very lightly floured sheet of parchment, roll the disc out into an 8 x 15-inch rectangle. Dough will still be quite crumbly; just do your best. Fold sheet of dough into thirds, folding each third into the center, so you have something resembling an envelope (pictured above). Press an indentation into the upper corner of envelope with your fingertip, to indicate one turn. Wrap tightly with plastic and chill 30 - 45 minutes.
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Continue this process of rolling, folding into thirds, marking number of turns with a fingertip, wrapping, and chilling, for a total of 5 turns. As you can imagine, it’s best to give yourself a day when you can make this ahead. When you’ve completed the fifth turn, wrap dough and chill until needed for the tarte.
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Use a sharp knife to trim angled edges from the apple quarters, so they’ll sit flat, with the rounded side facing up. Toss prepared apples with lemon juice and 1/4 cup sugar, and set aside to co-mingle for 20 – 30 minutes.
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To make caramel, set a 9-inch, deep-sided heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat. Add butter, and once melted, the remaining cup of sugar. Keep a close eye and stir constantly. First, things will hold together, then slowly, the mixture will darken and butter will begin to separate. Stay strong. Next, sugar mixture will bubble and spit a little. You may want to edge heat down slightly here, as you’re going for a light caramel color and things still have a ways to cook. Finally, caramel will come back together, smooth out, and cook quickly. As soon as you have an even, light caramel, remove pan from heat, about 10 - 15 minutes total.
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
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Toss apples one more time, and then carefully spoon into hot caramel. Things are going to spit and bubble a little, so go slowly. If there’s a lot of excess juice (it varies according to the kinds of apples), leave it behind. Set caramel and apples back over medium, or slightly medium-low heat, and cook 15 minutes or so, stirring frequently to turn apples in the caramel mixture. Apples and caramel are ready when the apples have taken on color without being mushy and the caramel is a dark, golden brown.
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Arrange apples with rounded sides facing down in a nice circle, with several apples more in center.
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Roll the prepared puff pastry into a 10-inch circle, about 1/4-inch thick. Set on top of apples and tuck sides down into edges of the pan. Cut four 1-inch vents in center with a sharp knife.
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Set pan on a rimmed baking sheet and slide into oven.
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Cook tarte for about 25 minutes, or until the pastry has puffed up and is a nice golden brown.
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Set tarte aside to cool for a minute, then cover with a large plate, and use two potholders to flip. Slice and serve immediately.
it’s so beautiful! i love the generous hunks of apple. i’ve never had or really looked into tarte tatin before but this makes me hungry for it bigtime.
Jaime, it’s the best! I am a sucker for all things butter and caramel, so this is pretty much as good as it gets for me.
I need to hop on this homemade puff pastry train! What a gorgeous recipe friend!
Thanks Katrina!
You are just SO “on” lately. Love it.
Sandra, Thank you kindly!
I’ve been wanting to tackle the tarte tatin for months, but haven’t gotten around to it! Yours sounds SO good! Good call on the pinch of salt and homemade puff pastry 🙂
Hi Nicole, I have yet to meet a food that’s not better with a pinch of sea salt.
This is the greatest tarte tatin in the history of the universe. Seriously. Not kidding. Made a 1 1/2 recipe for 12 people dinner party and it made everyone go quiet like in Babette’s Feast.
Andrea! This is literally the best comment I’ve ever gotten. Putting it right at the top of my comment Hall of Fame. I’m THRILLED everyone liked it.
I feel *exactly* the same way about tarte tatin – it’s one of those desserts that is so perfect in itself that you don’t need to do anything but enjoy it.
Kathryn, amen. Sometimes I find it funny how much the internet needs to do to stuff these days. It makes it thrilling to share something simple and classic and really good.
I’ve made tomato tarte tatin but not apple. Yours looks amazingly delicious.
Hi Georgia, Tomato tarte tatin is definitely going on my list for next summer. Yum!
Love tarte tatin! This looks gorgeous – and homemade dough?! Wow!
Thanks Millie! Glad you stopped by.
Rough puff sounds right up my alley, thought I may never get to that step because I think I’d like the caramel-y apples straight out of the pan equally as much. Beautiful recipe & photos!
Katie, Yep. I may have cooked more apples than I needed just so I could taste along the way. Apples and fresh caramel are such a perfect combo!
this looks so, so delicious! and i love that photo of the apples 🙂
Thanks Abby!
Perfection! I’ve never made puff pastry; it probably felt too intimidating. You truly made me excited to finally try it. Thank you!
Wow, Sini! It just has a lot of steps, but once I got my rhythm down, it was actually pretty fun.
I have never made this dessert, but it looks so beautiful and perfect for fall. I also just tried jonagold apples for the first time ever, and I am in love. They have a really special flavor.
I love Jonagold! I had them up in New York, but have been surprised at the difference in flavor down here in Virginia, and then with these from Michigan. I just love the depth they have.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for making your own puff pastry!
Admittedly, I can be a recipe snob, but it always frustrates me so when step one is “thaw a frozen puff pastry,” and then the baker proceeds to expect wonder and awe. I have avoided puff pastry recipes because I haven’t wanted to use a pre-made dough, but you have inspired me. I must make this! Soon!
Hi Quelcy, Thank you! I am a total recipe snob sometimes, and have absolutely felt that same thing about puff pastry. Part of the magic of cooking for me is making it all from scratch. It’s like the same feeling when you realized you’ve walked a very long way. It’s that “I did this!” feeling, right? Here’s to future puff pastry success!
I love this tarte tatin!! It’s so beautiful!!
I may never get to your level of making my own puff pastry but I just attempted to make this but the caramel got hard on me. Was I not stirring as often as I should have?? Will definitely retry as the apples are delish!
Hi Keidi, I’m so sorry to hear it hardened up! In my early days of learning to make caramel I can tell you it took me many retries to get it right. It’s important to use granulated white sugar, since the molasses in turbinado can interfere with the caramelization. My inclination is to say that as long as it isn’t burnt it could just re-melt, but I’m not positive.
David Lebovitz has a caramel tutorial that I’ve found incredibly helpful here: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2008/01/how-to-make-the/
Anyway, I’m sorry to hear it didn’t turn out for you, and do urge you to give it another shot, since sometimes caramel is just finicky.