All Blog Posts

Mini Tarte Tatin Bites

Recipes

Gallery Content

  • Slide

From our upcoming French Bubbles & Bites menu: Buttery apples, salted amber caramel and a crisp puff pastry, baked upside down, then flipped to serve. An easy French classic.

At the winery, our seasonal Bubbles & Bites experience shows off the versatility of sparkling wine through curated food and wine pairings that highlight the flavors of cuisines from around the globe. The menu changes with the seasons, and past editions have taken guests to the Caribbean, Morocco and Southeast Asia.

Our new French menu celebrates where we come from. Domaine Carneros was founded in 1987 by the Taittinger family of Champagne, and our chateau was modeled on Château de la Marquetterie, the family's 18th-century estate in France. The French Bubbles & Bites menu is our ode to that heritage: classic French flavors, made to be enjoyed with the wines of our Carneros estate. This tarte Tatin is its sweet moment.

Why you'll love them

Why you'll love them

Baking the tarts in a muffin pan means no slicing and no wrestling a big pan, just a perfect little flip for everyone at your table. Store-bought puff pastry keeps it simple, and you'll have dessert ready in under an hour.

Ingredients

Makes 12 mini tarts · Prep 25 min · Cook 35 min

Pastry
• 1 sheet (320 g) ready-rolled puff pastry

Apple filling
• 3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and quartered
• 25 g unsalted butter
• 1½ tbsp lemon juice

Caramel
• 75 g caster sugar
• 3 tbsp water
• A few drops of lemon juice
• 25 g unsalted butter
• Pinch of flaky sea salt

Equipment: a 12-cup muffin pan, a 7.5 cm (3 in) round cutter, a small saucepan with a lid and a baking sheet.

Recipe

Prep. Preheat the oven to 200°C fan (220°C conventional / 425°F). Roll the pastry slightly larger and cut a circle 2 cm wider than your skillet. Chill. Toss the apples in the lemon juice.

Make the caramel. In the skillet, heat the sugar and water over medium heat, swirling rather than stirring, until deep amber. Off the heat, stir in the butter and salt.

Add the apples. Stand the apple quarters upright in the caramel, packed tightly in circles. Cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, until they start to soften.

Add the pastry. Lay the pastry over the apples and tuck the edges down inside the pan. Pierce a few holes.

Bake. Bake for 30–35 minutes, until deep golden and puffed.

Flip. Let rest for 5 minutes. Set a large plate over the skillet and, wearing oven mitts, flip it in one quick motion. Nudge any stray apples back into place.

Tips

Tips

• Swirl, don't stir the caramel, so it stays smooth.
• Pull it at deep amber. The caramel keeps cooking in the oven.
• Pack the apples tightly. They shrink as they bake.
• Flip within 5 minutes, before the caramel sets. If a tart sticks, ease it out with a small spoon and press any stray apples back on top.
• Make ahead: assemble up to 8 hours early and refrigerate. Add 3–5 minutes to the bake.

The pairing: our 2023 Estate Pinot Noir

At the winery, we serve these alongside our 2023 Estate Pinot Noir, and the two are a natural match. The wine's baked cherry and fig flavors echo the caramelized apples, a gentle sweetness from barrel aging meets the caramel, and its silky texture mirrors the buttery pastry.