Tarte Tatin, Dorie Greenspan, "Baking"

Ingredients:

1 sheet frozen puff pastry (preferably all butter), thawed, or sweet tart dough, chilled
1 stick butter, 120 grams (I use half)
3/4 cup sugar, about 100 g
about 8 sweet firm apples, such as Fudji, Gala or Golden Delicious, peeled, cored and quartered (I cut in halves)

Method:
Choose a 9 or 10 inches oven-proof skillet or a tarte Tatin pan.

Working on a floured surface, (if you are using puff pastry), or between wax paper or plastic wrap, roll the dough out until it sis about 1/8 inch thick (it can be thicker if you'd like). Using a paring knife, cut the dough into a circle that is 1 inch larger of the diameter of the pan you are using.
Prick the dough all over with the tins of a fork and refrigerate it while you work on the apples.

Put the skillet over medium heat and add the butter. When it melts, tilt the pan so that the sides have a thin coating of melted butter. Sprinkle the sugar over the butter. Remove from the heat.

Fit a layer of apples into the skillet, putting the apples into the pan rounded side down and making concentric circles.
What's important here is to pack in the apples-because they will shrink as they cook, you want to make sure they are snug in the pan. When you've got a tight single layer, cut the remaining apple halves (or quarters) in half and strew them over the first layer. (You might have to cut more apples to get a fairly even layer here, or you might have apple quarters left over).
Don't worry about making this layer beautiful -no one will see it, but it will give the finished tart a litte height.

Put the pan over medium heat and cook -staying close by- until the sugar turns a deep caramel color. You'll see it bubbling up the sides of the pan, but if you need a clearer view, you can gently push an apple aside. To get the color you want without burning the sugar, you may have to lower the heat after a while. Count on 15 minutes, more or less, to get the color.

Remove from the heat.

Remove the pastry from the fridge and center it over the fruits, loosely tucking in any overhang (it's okay if you have a double layer of dough on the edges), or not - the oven's heat will shrink the pastry to size.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the pastry is baked through and if you used puff pastry, puffed.

Now, cover the skillet with a large rimmed service plate and, acting quickly and confidently (and making sure you're wearing good oven mitts), turn the tart out onto the platter and remove the pan. If any of the apples have stuck to the pan, gently lift them off the pan with an icing spatula and press them gently back onto the tart.

Let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.