Prompt: tart | Word Count: 200 words exactly | Genre: flash fiction
May 5, 2020
Casey’s lockdown goal was to perfect her baking. In the previous seven weeks, she’d been able to nail bread and cakes. She could make a crispy or soft cookie. She turned her attention to fruit. Yeast was scarce so today her focus was a classic French tarte tatin. The difficult part was the homemade puff pastry. She made a lean dough of flour, salt and water. She pounded and pounded the butter and layered it again and again, chilling as necessary to keep it cold. Then she wrapped the butter block in the dough and rolled and turned over and over to create the flaky layers. She peeled and quartered the tart, crisp apples, then sautéed them in butter with sugar, cinnamon, and just a touch of nutmeg until they caramelized a deep, syrupy brown. She used an apple disk for the center, then arranged the quarters in a ringed pattern. She layered the pastry atop the apples in the skillet and baked everything to a lovely golden brown. When she was ready to serve, she turned the tart out of the pan, fruit side up with the caramel syrup dripping down and served the slices with thick heavy cream.
cecekay 