Peach Tarte Tatin

Year after year, my mother in-law’s orchard yields the most abundant supply of peaches – and when they finally bloom, it’s become a tradition to head up north for the weekend to help harvest them. After hundreds and hundreds of fuzzy, sun-ripened peaches are picked, peach madness ensues. Dried peaches, peach crumble, peach pie, peach salsa, peach jam, peach margaritas . . . is there anything we haven’t made with this juicy stone fruit?! Peach tarte tatin, that’s what. I’ve always wanted to try my hand at the French upside-down pastry and I was delightfully surprised at how incredibly easy it was to make. Not only is it light and not too sweet, it’s a great way to show off any fruit like apples or pears.

(images by HonestlyYUM)

PEACH TARTE TATIN

Ingredients:

• 4-5 medium sized peaches
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1/2 cup cognac
• 1 whole vanilla bean
• 4 tbs butter, cubed
• puff pastry dough, thawed
• a handful of all purpose flour, for dusting

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375°
• Roll out puff pastry dough, onto a floured surface, to about 1/4″ thick. Cut it into a circle, just bit larger than the cask iron skillet. Set aside.
• Half the peaches and remove the seeds.
• In the skillet, add the sugar, the cognac and split vanilla bean with the seeds scraped.
• Dissolve the sugar over medium-high heat until the mixture becomes a light caramel. Stir with a wooden spoon until it darkens to a nice nutty brown color – and be very careful as it will be extremely hot!
• With a pair of tongs, gently place the peaches in the skillet, half-side up.
• After they’ve been coated, carefully flip them over with the tongs.
• Remove from heat, add the butter and cover the peaches with the round puff pastry.
• Tuck the excess dough into the edges with a wooden spoon.
• Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.
• Remove from oven and very carefully invert onto a plate or cake stand.
• Serve with large dollop of whipped cream!