A little twist on a traditional dessert. Yum!

It was my supervisor’s birthday, and I decided to make something tasty to bring in for the crew. My original thought was to make a big Tarte Tatin, a French caramelized apple tart. It can also be done with other fruits, which is what I wanted to do this time. I had a dilemma, though. I did not have a pan that would be large enough to feed my team at work. Cue Jen’s great idea – make individuals in a muffin tin.

Basically, you start with a simple caramel, i.e. sugar and water. Cook it down until it turns a vibrant amber color, but be careful, because any more than that and it will be burnt and taste funky. While it is still very hot, divide the caramel up evenly amongst the bottoms of the muffin tin.

Before it has too much time to set, go ahead and start layering in the fruits. I used nectarines, apples, and mangoes. Once they’re in there, I just cut up a sheet of frozen puff pastry into 12 equal parts, and laid one into each tin. Poke holes into each one with a toothpick, and put them in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Here’s the tricky part. Put a cookie sheet over the whole thing, and flip it over, lifting and dropping as you go, so that the excess caramel doesn’t splash everywhere. Make sure to flip it away from you, so that if some caramel does spill, it doesn’t land in your face. I have many scars from caramel burns, believe me, they are NOT fun, even if they could be considered fun to begin with.

Let it sit for a little while so that the tarts can drop onto the cookie sheet. The last couple may need a little coaxing to succumb to gravity, but all in all, they turned out great!

They were a big hit at work, and as a result, I started making them to sell at our local farmer’s market.

These can be made with just about ANY fruit, and they look really cool with a fresh berry or two on top!