Persimmon and Cranberry Tarte Tatin

Almost a decade ago my very first cast iron skillet was initiated with a tarte tatin. Actually, let’s back up. Almost a decade ago I bought my first cast iron skillet just so that I can make tarte tatin, having seen it in a food magazine, being totally smitten with the buttery caramelized apples, a light flaky pastry, and the fact that there were only 4 ingredients – butter, sugar, apples, and puff pastry. It was one of my most sophisticated adult desserts at the time and I was super proud to finally extend my reach beyond cookies and brownies.

Puff pastry = 1 ingredient? Certainly not, but the truth is that I haven’t mastered home-made laminated dough just yet. It’s a fascinating, time-consuming, and intimidating process, one in which you set out to create 729 layers of butter and dough. Yes, that’s right – 729 delicious flaky layers. So I turn to the freezer section of my grocery store for puff pastry. They have the one made with 100% butter if I’m lucky.

To make up for my dirty frozen pastry cheat, I decided to get just a little bit more elaborate with the fruit. Instead of apples, I’m featuring two of my other fall favourites: persimmons and cranberries. The flavours compliment each other perfectly and simulate the tart and sweet qualities of apples.

Regardless of the fruit being used, making tarte tatin look as good as it tastes is not easy. While decade-ago me was super proud of making anything with a fancy French name (Pillsbury croissant didn’t count), regardless of how it looked, 2016 me is putting in a little extra effort to make it look pretty.

To get a nice arrangement of fruit, I didn’t pre-cook the persimmons on the stove. Instead, they were sliced really thinly, carefully arranged on the skillet, and then cooked along with the pastry in the oven. Even with the fancy fruit arrangement, this dessert came together super quickly. Make it in a advance and warm it up in the oven before serving it at your holiday table, with some lightly sweetened creme fraiche or vanilla ice cream.

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