I don’t know about you, but I don’t care what season it is; I’m always up for a slice of tarte Tatin, the famed French upside-down caramelized apple tart. And I’m also always up for someone coming over to make it for me. This summer, during one of our heat waves, that person was Jake Cohen.
I met Jake a number of years ago in New York City and within minutes of meeting him, he’d invited Romain and me over for dinner. That surprised Romain since it’s uncommon in France to get an invitation to someone’s house for dinner who you barely know. Jake is the kind of person you immediately want to be friends with, and since we were in the U.S., we were happy to go.
Jake is the author of three cookbooks, and his latest is Dinner Party Animal: Recipes to Make Every Day a Celebration, chock-full of recipes for entertaining with ease.
He’s definitely a pro at entertaining, as evidenced by our arrival at his place for dinner. We were stunned to find a lengthy table loaded with food, and after we sat down, more kept coming and coming, all of it delicious. He seemingly pulled off dinner for nearly a dozen people with aplomb, as if it was nothing. I always feel like I’m a dud at entertaining because by the time my guests arrive, I’m zonked from shopping and cooking all day. How does he do it?
In Dinner Party Animal, Jake lets us in on his secrets and does a lot of the work for us, providing actual, useful information about each and every menu and recipe (and party) in the book. From a Bagel Bonanza and a That Was Tonight? dinner menu (recipes that can be put together at the last minute with ingredients you likely already have on hand — which could be a whole book), to a Pita Party of delicious Mediterranean appetizers like hot honey labneh, homemade pita bread, and spicy cauliflower and celery pickles. Incredibly, he seems to have thought of everything.
The last chapter is Gobble, Gobble, which Jake calls “the only Thanksgiving menu you’ll ever need.” Like all the chapters, it starts with a menu for the party, a list of every item you’ll need (and in what quantity), a grocery list, and a prep list that includes what you can do a week ahead, what you can do up to three days ahead, up to two days ahead, and up to a day ahead, as well as what you can do 4 hours, 2 hours, 1 hour, and right before the guests arrive. He’s done all that work so you can take a load off and have yourself a Happy Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is a couple of months from now, but you can tuck this tarte Tatin recipe away until then or make it now.
Minutes after arriving in my kitchen, Jake got to work on his tarte Tatin. I have a few of tarte Tatin pans in my collection, which I pulled out for him…
One, on the left, is a gorgeous copper Mauviel pan I snagged up at a flea market for a whopping €2. The other is a specialty de Buyer tarte Tatin pan that I discovered 20+ years ago when I moved to France and found it at MORA, the pastry supply shop at Les Halles in Paris.
It’s nonstick and creates a beautifully domed tarte Tatin, although I think I paid one-third of the price that it currently costs. (Le Creuset just came out with a beautiful tarte Tatin pan, too.) But you don’t need a special pan to make this dessert. Jake grabbed a regular stainless-steel skillet off my kitchen shelf to use.
Jake’s tarte Tatin is easy to prepare, and one thing he does is to precook the apples a little, which helps move the process along. He also adds cinnamon, which the French would say is “très américain,” but it works well and even Romain liked it. (And believe me, he would tell me if he didn’t.) When I’ve presented recipes like French Apple Cake, non-French commenters often inquire about adding cinnamon, which French people don’t habitually add when baking with apples. So I'd tell them, “Yes, you can add cinnamon if you want, but just call it Apple Cake because it won’t be French.”🇫🇷
There’s nothing wrong with a non-French apple cake, but I have to say, Jake convinced me —and Romain — that there’s a place for cinnamon in the famed French upside-down caramelized tart. And this tart is proof.
Tarte Tatin
Serves 8
From Dinner Party Animal by Jake Cohen, reprinted with permission from Harvest/William Morrow
I’ve reprinted Jake’s recipe here from the book since he’s a whiz at writing recipes. For his recipe, you’ll make a dry caramel, which involves caramelizing sugar in a skillet with no water, just sugar, then stopping the caramelization with butter. (For tips on making caramel, check out my post, How to Make the Perfect Caramel.) Jake doesn’t like to use puff pastry for this, store-bought or otherwise, and prefers homemade dough. His technique of layering the dough eight times produces a dough similar to puff pastry, but is sturdier.
If you don’t have Honeycrisp apples, a firm, flavorful apple that keeps its shape while baking can be used. Golden Delicious reliably hold their shape. Braeburn, Jonagold, and Northern Spy are others.
Dough
2 cups (270g) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon kosher (or sea) salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 ounces (170g) cold unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 cup (125ml) ice water
Apples
3 pounds (1,3kg, about 8 medium) Honeycrisp apples, peeled, quartered, and cored
1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher (or sea) salt
Caramel
3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
4 tablespoons (2 ounces, 55g) cold unsalted butter, cubed
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher (or sea) salt
Vanilla ice cream, for serving
Make the dough: In a large bowl, stir the flour, salt, and baking powder to combine. Add the butter and, using your fingers, pinch the butter into the flour mixture until pea-sized crumbles form. Using your hand, knead in the water until a shaggy dough forms. Transfer to a clean work surface.
Using a bench scraper (or chef’s knife), cut the dough in half, then stack the two halves and press down with your hands to flatten into a round disk. Repeat this cut and press process, dusting with flour as needed to prevent sticking, for a total of 8 times. Cover in plastic wrap (or your favorite eco-friendly alternative) and refrigerate the dough for an hour.
Cook the apples: Preheat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
In the prepared sheet pan, toss the apples with the sugar, cinnamon, and salt to coat. Arrange the apples cut-side down. Roast for 25-30 minutes, until just tender. Let cool on the pan.
Make the caramel: In a 10-inch (25cm) ovenproof skillet, heat the sugar over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring often, until amber in color, 4-6 minutes. Working quickly, remove from the heat and stir in the butter, followed by the vanilla and salt. Arrange the roasted apples in concentric circles cut-side up over the caramel in the skillet, shingling to fit.
Transfer the chilled dough to a lightly dusted surface. Roll into a 12-inch (30cm) circle, dusting with more flour as needed. Drape over the apples, tucking the edges of the dough into the pan.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, until golden brown and bubbling. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. (If making in advance, see note below.)
Serve the tarte Tatin: Place a large plate over the top of the pan and use a kitchen towel or oven mitts to invert together. Carefully remove the pan to reveal the tarte Tatin, then slice and serve with vanilla ice cream.
Make Ahead: Dough (step 1) can be made up to 1 day in advance of baking, stored in the refrigerator. Apples (steps 2 and 3) can be made up to 1 day in advance of baking, stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Tarte Tatin (through step 6) can be made any time the day of serving, kept in the pan. Reheat in a 400ºF (200ºC) oven for 5 to 10 minutes, to warm through before serving (step 7).
If you watched the video of me and Jake making this tart on Instagram (above), the caramel ice cream we served with it is from my book, Ready for Dessert.
I buy every cookbook you feature, including yours! It’s getting out of control, but it’s so much fun (and delicious).
I made Dorie’s apple cake yesterday. I noticed it didn’t have cinnamon, so I added some. They’re going to come for my French card now. 😂