Strawberry Tarte Tatin

Gotta blog a huge backlog of recipes.

Ingredients

• 1/2lb strawberries, stems removed, halved
  
• 2tbsp butter
  
• 1/4c sugar
  
• 1.5tbsp water
  
• 1/2tsp vanilla extract
  
• 1 sheet puff pastry
  
• 2 mini tart tins
  

Preheat oven to 400. In a saucepan, combine butter, sugar, water, and vanilla and cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture just starts to darken. Then take it off right away - it will keep cooking while you wait. Meanwhile, cut puff pastry to fit the tart tins and place in the tins. Layer with strawberries radially. Pour the caramel over the strawberries and puff pastry and place tarts in the oven about 25-30 minutes.

Thoughts: At least, that's how it works in theory. When we did it, the puff pastry did not puff. So we wound up taking the things out of the oven, turning them out, putting the puff pastry BACK in the oven until it cooked properly, then putting it back on top of the cooked strawberries. It was kind of a terrible mess. This is why Tarte Tatin is baked upside down, I guess. Also, the strawberries let out a lot of juice in the oven... which wasn't to their credit. I would say the flavor of the dish was fantastic. It was just a terrible mess is all. If I can think of a better way to combine similar ingredients, I'll do it.

Disaster Index: 6/10