Tarte Tatin - Turnover apple pie

I'm back at my parent's place for Christmas and when I got back, my mom wanted a Tarte Tatin really badly, she had already bought apples and looked through recipes !
We went through more recipes to compare and chose the best way to bake it. It was a nice teamwork.

~~ The result was a bit too good for our bodyline ~~

We looked in "Le Larousse de la cuisine" which is like an encyclopedia about cooking,
all the famous recipe... it's a dictionnary. Then we checked the recipe of Christophe Féron
in Christophe Felder's book : "Exquises Pâtisseries pour les fêtes".
We've also checked the recipe of Guy Savoy... etc.
To conclude, there is many way to proceed. 

Finally we did not pick the easy one,
but the most interesting one.

So we made a mix of those recipes.
Not too much butter, a home made shortcrust dough, vanilla flavoured (or cinnamon)
Baked on the stove and in the oven.

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For 10 people (9inch pie)Pour une tarte tartin d'une dizaine de personne (22cm de diamètre) 

Use a high mold (3inch at least) 
If you have a big pan, that goes in the oven and on the stove, it's fine too.

   You will need :   

1 shortcrust dough flavoured
- vanilla or cinnamon -

5 to 6 apples, depending on their size

- golden, reinettes, boskop, braeburn... a firm one -

 1/3 cup of sugar, white or brown (2.8oz/80gr)

1/2 stick of butter (5tbsp/1.8oz/50gr)

1tbsp of water 

salt
vanilla extract 

cinammon :)

Prepare the shortcrust dough

Make your shortcrust dough with unsalted butter and a pinch of salt

Add 1/2tbsp of vanilla extract stirred in 1/2tbsp of sugar in the water

Allumer le four à 200°C

Prepare the apple

Rinse and peel the apples, cut them in half and remove the seeds

- you can remove the seeds after cutting them if you prefer -

Depending on their size, cut these halves in 3 or 4 slices

- 1 apple is cut in 6 pieces or 8 if it's a big apple 

Pick a mold that goes on the stove and in the oven.
Place it on your stove at low heat, and melt the butter in it. Add the apple in and stir delicately
so they get fully covered of butter.

Leave them 3 to 5 minutes to get buttery and a bit yellowish and remove them from the mold,
they must not cook too much, they are still firm

- some butter is left in the mold, that's good -

Faire un caramel

Pour sugar in the buttered mold, add 1tbsp of water and 1pinch of salt
Put it on high/medium heat to make a caramel (toffee)

Stir with a wooden spoon so it won't burn

It must have a really dark caramel shade and be liquid
Turn off the fire, take the mold in hands > with gloves
and do a circular move so the caramel gets everywhere in the mold
By getting cooler, it gets harder and will stay in place

Place apples

When the caramel is still soft but sticky enough to stop moving,
place the apples as flower petals, close from each other,
press on the mold when placing them to get the caramel going in between.
Start by the outter circle with the biggest slices, then the inner circle.
You have extra apple left, use them in smal pieces to fill in the holes.

- about a half apple is enough -

Spread some cinnamon on the apple if you like it :)

Making the Tatin

Flatten your dough on a floured table, fold it delicately in half, then in 4. Carry it carefully on your apples, folds in the center. Unfold it to cover the pie.
Make the dough stick on the edges toward the apples. Don't use a fork to stab it.

Bake 40 minutes or so.

The dough must be real golden.

Turn out when tepid :)

- afer 15 minutes out of the oven -

Serve tepid with a vanilla ice cream or table cream !

My brother works on his exams, I am working on my basics recipes ;)

Pear cake with honey and lemon

      

Original and with a lot of flavours, this recipe is Camille Lesecq's recipe, pastry Chef of Le meurice, Paris. I changed a few things in the recipe, because I've baked it a few times already.

- did I get fat ? -

Really soft and tender, it can be made in a meat loaf pan,

it has always been a huge success :)

For 6 people

   You will need :   

Pears

2 pears

3.5 oz of honey (100g)

- pine honey -

2.8 oz of butter (80gr)

- Camille Lesecq puts 3.5 oz -

the dough

4.2 oz of white sugar (120gr)

1.8 oz of butter (50gr)

4.4 oz of flour (125gr)

1.7 fl oz of milk (5cL)

1.7 fl oz of olive oil (5cL)

- Camille Lesecq puts 2.5 fl oz -

- you can use vegetal oil if you prefer -

2 eggs

1 grated lemon zest

3tbsp of lemon juice

0.2 oz of baking powder (6gr)

Prepare the pears

In a casserole, melt the butter with the honey on low heat.

Rinse, peal the pears and remove the heart with the seeds. Cut them in dice of 1/2 inch

- Camille Lesecq cuts them in 8, not in dice -

Add them to the melted butter, cover and let it cook at medium heat for 20 minutes.

Let it cool down in the butter sauce. They must be translucid. Set aside.

Turn the oven on at 375°F

Prepare the cake

Beat the sugar with the egss and the lemon zest for at least 3 minutes,

it must be light and foamy

Pour the milk slowly while stirring

Integrate the flour and the baking powder with a wooden spoon 

by doing small circular movements from the center

Finally, stir the lemon juice, the melted butter and the oil

By hand, stir it all together 2 to 3 minutes. Set Aside

Dry of the pears with a colander, use a clean absorbent paper to remove delicatly the excedient butter

In a buttered pan (you can use the butter +honey sauce to butter it), pour 2/3 of the dough, them place the pears carefully with a spoon, and pour the rest of the dough on top of them

- Camille Lesecq puts the pears aside the cake, but I like it better in it -

Put in the oven for 35 to 50 minutes, depending on your mold

Check the cooking by inserting a clean and smooth knife in the middle of the cake, 

it must come out clean

Thanks to Camille for this recipe, the first time I made it, I followed all the instructions, it had 300 gr of butter in it (12oz of butter...)

It's a bit too much butter for me :D

"Cake aux poires juste confites" is the exact name of that cake

Fruit "crust", apple and rhubarb, apple and raspberrie !

I promessed I would post this one, took me a bit longer to to do it as I wanted :)

But at least you have many flavors :)

For 6 people

   You will need :   

For the crust

1.5 cup of flour (7oz / 200gr)

0.6 cup of brown sugar (5.3 oz / 150 gr)

3/4 cup of butter (3.5oz / 100gr / 7.5tbsp)

2tsp of honey

- or 2tsp of grounded cinnamon -

a hint of water

Rhubarb and apples

7oz. of peeled rhubarb

6 regular-sized apples

- I had braeburn -

Raspberries and apples

7oz of frozen raspberries

1.7 fl oz of water(1/5 cup / 5cL) d'eau

1 tsp of lemon juice

6 regular sized apples

- I had braeburn -

For the rhubarb, a few hours before :

Wash and peel the rhubarb, cut it in dice and put it in a bowl with 2tbsp of brown sugar, 

Stir it and set aside in the fridge

- this is how you remove water from the rhubarb -

After 2 hours, remove the water, blend it again and add more sugar if needed,

leave it one more hour in the fridge

For the raspberries :

Put the raspberries with the water in a caserole at low heat to unfreeze them,

 crush them with a wooden spoon to make a sauce

When they are soft and crushed, turn it off and add the lemon juice

Turn on the oven at 450°F

Wash and peel the apples, cut them in dice

Put in your glass-dish, or your ramequin one layer of apple

Spread some brown sugar on it,

\\ then you put the rhubarb if you've chosen that flavour //

Put another layer of apple

\\ pour the raspberrie sauce on the top if you've chosen that flavour //

Blend the flour and the sugar with the butter with your finger, just like to do a cookie dough

Add the honey and a hint of water to make a dough

Flatten it on a floured parchment paper to have 0.2 inch of thickness

Turn over on your fruits, cut the edges and make some holes with a fork

Put it in the oven for 5 minutes, then lower the heat at 360°F for 35 minutes

Turn off the oven and let it 5 more minutes

Let it cool down 10 minutes out of the oven, eat it warm :)

Light Panacotta with rhubarb

It's the way I like it served at Le Fellini (italian restaurant in Paris), turned out from the mold :) 

served with raspberrie sauce, or in that case, a rhubarb sauce !

I made a mix of a few recipes, picked up what I liked, here is the result :

For 4 to 5 glass mold

  You will need :   

10 fl oz of evaporated milk (30cL)

- ou half & half -

6.8 fl oz of milk (20cL)

1.7 oz of white sugar (40gr)

1tsp. of vanilla extract 

- or a half vanilla pod grated -

0.2 oz of gelatine (6g)

- 3 slices -

Put 2tbsp of cold water in the powdered gelatine, stir and set aside for 10 minutes

Put the milks and the vanilla in a casserole at medium heat, stirring slowly

After 3 minutes, the cream will be warm and smoky, put the sugar and use a whisk to stir it

Put the temperature higher until the cream starts small bubble/shaking

- it must not boil -

Turn of the stove and let it cool 3 minutes, stirring slowly

Integrate the gelatine and let it cool 10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes

Pour in your molds/glasses, cover with a plastic film and let it cool for at least 6 hours

Serve with a home made rhubarb sauce 

- market's rhubarb -

   To do a rhubarb sauce :   

17.7 oz of prepared rhubarb

2 oz of sugar

 vanilla extract 

- panacotta has some, don't need to put more -

Rince, peel the rhubarb and cut it in dices

Put it in a casserole with the sugar at low heat for 5 minutes, then put it on medium heat
and let it cook approximatively 10 to 15 minutes,
until the rhubarb lost her water and that all the water disappeared.

The rhubarb must be tender

Pour in a bowl and let it cool down

Rhubarb and vanilla is a great mix =)

Fruit Cake, just the way we love it

 

It's not the first time I'm doing this cake, I already loved it, and this time even more.

Really soft and tender, sweeter than the gingerbread.

Not much butter in it, I love to start the day with that kind of light sweetness :)

It's a breakfast or teatime cake :)

I made a few changed from Vovoï's recipe, but really small ones

For 1 cake (11inch long, 4inch wide)

   You will need :   

2.5 oz of dry raisins (brown ones) (70g)

2.5 oz of dry raisins (blond ones) (70g)

- smyrn et corynth -

2 oz of cranberries or cherries (60g)

- I used dry ones -

 Vovoï puts 3.5 oz of each raisins and 1.7 oz of fresh cherries, but cherry season is long over :)

3tbsp of rhum

1egg

5oz of white sugar (140g) and 1.8oz of brown sugar (50g)

-  she puts 7oz of white sugar -

3.5fl oz of milk (10cL)

- 1coffee cup -

1.8oz of butter (3.5tbsp / 50g)

8.8 oz of flour (250g)

1tsp and a half of baking powder 

Wash your fruits in water, dry them with a napkin 

and put them in a bowl with the rhum

Cover and let it rest for at least 1h

Turn the oven on at 370°F

Prepare your mold if needed

- if not silicone, you have to butter/flour it or put a parchment paper in it -

Beat the egg with sugars until it's lighter and foamy

Add the milk, blendAjoutez le lait et mélangez

Add the slightly melted butter

 - 20 secondes in the microwave, blend to make all the butter melt -

Blend to have a smooth and still a bit foamy cream

You can now add the flour and the baking powder, in 4 times, 

put in on the side and blend with a wooden spoon from the center

You dough is ready, you can put the raisins without drying them from the rhum,

but leave approximativly 2tbsp of the rhum in the bowl 

- you can put some flour on raisins (1 or 2 tbsp) to avoid them getting in the bottom of the mold, 

but if you put it straight in the already hot oven, you won't have this issue -

Pour quickly in the mold and put straight in the oven

My cooking time was of 55 minutes, it can be between 45 and 1h depending on your molds.

Check by inserting a smooth and clean knife in the middle of the cake, if it goes out clean, it's cooked !

Vovoï used a cookie box, with butterred paper on the inner surface, ahd she says it takes 1h to cook

but with my mold of 11inch long, 4inch wide, with a glass bottom and silicone borders,

it took me almost 1h too

PS : This squirrel is named Pynut !