Ingredients (serves 6 – or 2 if that’s all you’re eating for dinner)
1 block of frozen puff pastry
8 tart eating apples
¾ stick of butter (about 3 oz)
1 cup (7 oz ish) of sugar
Oven proof pan (I have a cast iron skillet, though before I was given that as a wedding present, I used a ceramic pie dish and sautéed the apples in a frying pan first)
- Defrost the pastry then roll it out to a bit bigger than the size of your dish / pan
- Preheat the oven to 450 being sure to remove any stored items first
- Peel and core the apples (it’s worth using a corer if you have one because it looks neater)
- Melt the butter and sugar in a pan, then add the apple halves – they should fit tightly in the pan. If they don’t, add more.
- Cook slowly on a low heat until the sugar caramelizes – about 20 mins
- Turn all the apples so that they all face the same way – or arrange them into the dish that you’re going to put in the oven
- Top with the pastry, tucking it in under the apples as much as you can without burning your fingers
- Bake for 20 minutes then allow to cool for five minutes
- Put a serving plate on top of the dish and turn it quickly upside down
- The pastry should now be on the bottom and the apples in all their caramelized glory, on the top.
- Serve with vanilla ice cream or cream
I sometimes make individual ones for people in ceramic pots that I bought on holiday in France – I think they’re called gratin dishes. In which case, I cut the apples into chunks rather than halves so everyone gets more apple.
This originally appeared with the revelation that people in New York really do keep shoes in their oven.