Salted Caramel Tarte Tatin with Vanilla Crème Fraîche

⏱ 80 min · Serves 8

Burnished apples caught in a dark, sea-salted caramel under a shatteringly crisp puff pastry lid — flipped out at the table while it's still sighing. A cool spoonful of vanilla crème fraîche cuts straight through the sweetness. Old-school French drama, worth every minute.

Per serving: 492 kcal · 4.1g protein · 58.0g carbs · 27.0g fat

Ingredients

• 6–7 firm apples (Braeburn or Pink Lady), about 1.3kg
• 200g caster sugar
• 90g unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 tsp flaky sea salt, plus a pinch to finish
• 1 vanilla pod, split (seeds for the cream, pod for the caramel)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 320g all-butter puff pastry, chilled
• 1 tbsp Calvados or brandy (optional)
• 250g crème fraîche
• 1 tbsp icing sugar

Method

1. Peel, halve and core the apples. Toss with the lemon juice and set aside.
2. Roll the puff pastry to a 3mm thickness and cut a disc 2cm wider than your 24cm ovenproof skillet. Prick lightly all over, slide onto a tray and chill.
3. Preheat the oven to 200°C fan / 220°C conventional.
4. Scatter the sugar in an even layer in the dry skillet and set over a medium heat. Let it melt without stirring, swirling the pan occasionally, until it turns a deep amber — about 8 minutes. Watch it closely at the end.
5. Off the heat, whisk in the butter a few cubes at a time (it will bubble furiously), then the flaky salt, the scraped vanilla pod and the Calvados if using. Remove the pod.
6. Pack the apple halves into the caramel, cut side up and standing on their curved edges, tightly in concentric circles — they shrink, so squeeze in more than feels sensible.
7. Return to a medium heat for 12–15 minutes, basting the apples with caramel, until they soften slightly and the caramel thickens.
8. Drape the chilled pastry over the top and tuck the edges down inside the pan with the back of a spoon. Cut two small steam vents.
9. Bake for 30–35 minutes until the pastry is deep golden and puffed. Rest for exactly 10 minutes — no longer, or the caramel sets.
10. Run a knife round the edge, put a large plate over the pan and invert confidently in one movement. Rearrange any stray apples and spoon over the caramel left in the pan.
11. Whip the crème fraîche with the icing sugar and vanilla seeds until just thickened. Finish the tart with a pinch of salt flakes and serve warm, with a generous quenelle alongside.