I often think that Monday nights should be used for nothing more than a glass of wine, a home cooked meal, a spot of television, a bath, book and bed. Oh, and a sticky dessert glistening with maple syrup wouldn’t go astray either.

That was (fortunately) my lot in life last night, and it was just what I felt like.

Armed with the best intentions for, oh years, I’ve been meaning to make tarte tatin. And who wouldn’t really? All that gleaming caramel, flaky pastry and luscious apples…

But as we all know, the chasm between having the best of intentions and actually actioning intentions, is as large as my ever-increasing cookbook collection. Which is to say: nearly insurmountable. Not that I am complaining, mind you, about The Cookbook Situation – I will not be swayed from my firm belief that it is impossible to have too many books.

But for some reason last night I found myself thinking of a recipe for tarte tatin spotted in a Donna Hay magazine a while ago, and I decided that – thanks to some crisp apples picked up on a road-side stall in the Huon Valley on Thursday – today was The Day for tarte tatin making. And, wouldn’t you know it, I simply could not remember which issue it was in – even a desperate Google search provided no clues regarding the particular recipe I had in mind.

Fortunately this story has a happy ending, as you have probably surmised, owing to the photo of said apple tarte tatin in this post. Google came to the rescue, serendipitously providing me with a link to this Donna Hay tarte tatin recipe. Not the one that I was looking for, but this one, instead of requiring a partial zombie (it was post-work, you understand) to make a caramel, merely requires the baker to pour in some maple syrup – genius!

The most tedious part of the whole recipe is coring, peeling and chopping two apples – hardly strenuous work. Oh, and waiting for the baking time to finish, obviously, which can be highly strenuous.

If you haven’t yet tried tarte tatin and you’d like a simple little dessert to add to your repertoire may I suggest this one? It may not be strictly authentic French fare but it is undeniably good.

Serves 4 generous serves

Ingredients
25g butter
1/4 cup (60ml) maple syrup
2 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced (thick-ish is fine)
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed and cut to a round that will snugly fit the inside of your oven dish

Method
Preheat oven to 200°C. Melt the butter in a non-stick frying pan over high heat (NB: to save on washing up, I like to use an oven-proof pan).

Add the maple syrup and apple and cook for 4-5 minutes or until the apple is just tender.

If you are using an oven-proof pan drape the pastry over the top of the apple and maple syrup mixture. Otherwise, transfer the apple and maple syrup mixture to an oven-proof container before draping the pastry on top.

Bake for around 15 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden. Allow to stand for 2 minutes. Use a serving implement, loosen the pastry if necessary before turning out.

Serve with cream or ice-cream (I read a suggestion somewhere that honey and lavender ice-cream would be nice, but vanilla is also divine).

This recipe was adapted from Donna Hay magazine, issue 52, p. 134.