I love making tarte Tatin, mostly at this time of year because there are so many fruits to choose from!!!
If you have dough already on hand (I use a puff pastry roll from the supermarket for this recipe), it really takes very little time! The only tricky part is making a caramel, but again, it's not too challenging. Here are a few link for ideas:
For how to make a caramel, watch this! You can either make the caramel in the pan that you will use for your tarte. I used a 8" cast iron pan, so I made the caramel in it and added my fruits right when the caramel was done, to stop it from burning, and continue on with the recipe using the same pan all along. Or you can make your caramel in a pot and then pour it in the pan that you will use for your tart, if this one is not stove friendly. In that case, make sure to pour out the caramel as soon as you've reached the desired color, or it will continue getting darker and burn!
For the fruits, you can experiment with so many! Apricots, peaches, plums, apples, pears, pineapples and more! Avoid berries and fruits high in water. Instead of the thyme, you can use other herbs like rosemary, or spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger...
In a saucepan with a thick bottom, or cast iron pan, place sugar and water. Cook on medium heat until the sugar turns to a light amber caramel color, and pour into the pie dish (unless you are using the same pan for your pie). See explanation above and link to see how to make caramel.
Place a few springs of fresh thyme on the caramel and place all the apricots cut side down. Then spread the butter in pieces all over the fruits.
cover all the fruits with your pie dough. Tuck the dough on the side of the fruits.
Place your dish on a cookie tray, in case of caramel spill. Bake at 400 F for 30 min, until the pastry is flaky and has a golden color to it.
Let the pie cool just 5 min until the sugar stops bubbling, then turn it upside down on a plate. Be very careful!!! Do this while the pie is still hot, or the caramel will harden and it is impossible to get the pie out! But be safe and oven mitt of anything to protect your hands from the hot pan and possible leaking caramel. Turn it upside down pretty fast so the liquid won’t have time to leak ;)
Serve at room temperature or warm, with vanilla ice cream of whipped cream.