French Onion Tarte Tatin. Thickly-sliced sweet onions are cooked with butter & white wine until golden brown. The caramelized onions are topped with Gruyere cheese and baked under a pie crust.

Would you just take a moment and admire those gorgeous rings of golden brown, delicious, caramelized onions? Can we all just agree that, nothing, and I mean nothing, in the world smells better than onions frying in butter. Well, except maybe for chocolate chip cookies baking if I’m more in the mood for sweet than savory, but I digress…

Can’t you just imagine what this French Onion Tarte Tatin tastes like from ogling that photo?  Well, I assure you that it tastes just as fabulous as you are imagining it does!

I seriously don’t even know what to say about this recipe. I am so completely happy with the way this thing turned out. I was mulling over the idea of a savory onion upside down cake when I decided the only thing better than an upside down cake is an upside down tart. The French call it a Tarte Tatin. I just call it one of my favoritest desserts ever!

As I was writing the recipe I was thinking about how to caramelize the onions and make a bit of a “sauce” since there wouldn’t be an actual caramel sauce in the pan, as there is for a traditional Apple Tarte Tatin.

So I decided to add a little white wine (Remember! Alcohol enhances flavors!) and some chicken stock to create the sauce. Those flavors immediately brought French Onion Soup to mind, which of course brought melty Gruyere Cheese to mind.

So there you have it! Two of the greatest French dishes combined into one super fab, super delish tart. Serve it as an appetizer, for lunch, at brunch. Whenever you serve it, I suggest you serve with with a nice, cold glass of dry white wine.

Cheers!!

French Onion Tarte Tatin

Yield: 8 servings

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Bake Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

French Onion Soup is turned into a Tarte Tatin. Sweet onions are cooked with butter & white wine until golden brown. The onions are topped with Gruyere cheese and baked under a pie crust.

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Ingredients

• 1/2 recipe Perfect Pie Crust
• 1/2 stick (2 oz, 55g) butter (see note)
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt (use less if using salted butter &/or stock)
• pepper to taste
• 2 large sprigs thyme, about 1 1/2 Tbsp leaves
• 2 pounds (3-4 large) Vadalia or other sweet onions, peeled and sliced into 1" thick slabs
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) white wine
• 1/4 cup chicken or vegetable stock
• 4 oz (120g) gruyere cheese, shredded

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Roll the pie dough to a 12" round and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
2. Melt the butter with salt, pepper and thyme in a 10 cast iron skillet. Arrange the onions in the pan. Cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes, until the bottoms are golden brown. As the onions shrink, rearrange and tuck more onions into the pan. Flip the onions and brown the other side. Cook until all the onions are browned and mostly translucent.
3. Pour the wine and chicken stock over the onions. Cook until the liquid has reduced by half, 5-6 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.
4. Sprinkle the shredded cheese over the onions. Lay the pie crust over the onions, tucking the edges between the onions and the pan.
5. Bake until the crust is golden brown, about 15 minutes. Cool 5 minutes.
6. Run a knife or spatula around the edges of the tart to make sure there is no cheese sticking. Flip onto serving platter, place any onions that stick to the pan onto the tart
7. Serve Warm

Notes

You may need to adjust the salt if you use salted butter and/or stock.