The Best Tarte Tatin Recipe

you may or may not know, and almost certainly don't care, that one of my favorite blogs is thursday night countdown. the first (usually) thursday of each month, she lays down a challenge to others to tackle a yet-untried recipe from one's neglected collection of cookbooks, and adds a special theme to each month's challenge. i thought it would be a good match with the theme of my blog this year, so i decided to give it a try. this month's challenge was simply, well, a challenge: challenge yourself; streeeeetch your skills. so, to The New Best Recipe i go. since i was going to a friend's house today, i wanted to bring whatever i challenged myself with, which added the additional challenge of being portable, and not needing additional preparation upon arrival. i finally chose tarte tatin. it's french, so it's gotta be hard, right? for those of you who don't know french, tarte tatin means burnt apples on a pie crust. and as you can see, the recipe was a rousing success! these were, by far, the best burnt apples i've ever had. and who knew it was so easy? really, it wasn't very challenging at all. melt butter in a pan, remove from heat, spread sugar on top and then lay the apple quarters in place, then put it back on HIGH heat for 10-12 minutes, letting the juices go beyond butterscotch in color to a rich amber color. i was concerned after about 4 minutes and reduced the heat down to medium. a couple of minutes later, i removed the pan from the heat, turned the apple quarters over, then returned the pan to the burner. as the book instructed, it put it on the HIGHEST heat, prepared to do as it said and leave it there for 5 additional minutes. i stopped after 3. so really, if the recipe didn't come out as promised, it's probably my fault for not caramelizing (which i think is italian for burning) the apples long enough. i'm sure that's it. at any rate, the apple tasted quite burnt to me. the crust was good, though, and a whipped mixture of heavy cream and sour cream provided a pleasant, slightly tart topping for the burnt apples. so, the recipe is a big thumbs up for burnt apples! if we were to judge it for producing a good dessert, though....thumbs not-so-up. i will try submitting this to TNS, though she asks for photos in a certain size and i have no idea how to do that, so i'll send what i have and hope it works.