Tarte Tatin

(I hope this picture looks OK -- my monitor on my laptop is not calibrated correctly for photos so I'm always guessing... I'll fix it Monday if it's off...)


Why is it that every birthday I try to make an apple dessert, and every birthday I am disappointed?

Last year's double-crust apple pie was actually inedible. That almost never happens. This year's Tarte Tatin was definitely edible, but I just wasn't that crazy about it. I have some thoughts as to why that is:

1. Every recipe I saw called for Golden Delicious apples. The store didn't have any of these, so I used a combination of Gala and Fuji.
2. I used Julia Child's recipe for the pate brisee, and also for the main apple part. But I was intrigued by the Bon Appetit recipe for pomegranate-apple tarte tatin. So, I made Julia's recipe, but added some pomegranate syrup and allspice as the Bon Appetit recipe called for.

Also, it is very, very sweet and way too buttery (I'm all for butter, but this just tastes kind of oily). I've actually never had Tarte Tatin so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I thought it was supposed to be all caramely-appley. This was super-sweet, with a tart edge from the pomegranate syrup, and not much of that yummy browned-sugar caramelness.

So. I'm really not that crazy about it. I had a small piece, just to try it. The sad truth is that as I get older, I'm less and less into desserts in general. I was way more into the simple lentil-and-rice dish I made for dinner, which had some amazing caramelized onions on top. That caramelizing worked very well -- the dish was simple and delicious.

I have this fantasy that I'll make The Best Dessert Ever at some point and all my dessert dreams will be fulfilled. Honestly, I just enjoy the process and the way the kitchen smells when I make yummy stuff. Lately I am not very into eating sweets. I like to make them, though.

However. This fall I would like to make a chocolate cake at some point, a spice cake or coffeecake, and some molasses cookies. I feel guilty bringing all these sweets into the office but nobody's complained so far.