Ingredients

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 4 medium Golden Delicious apples
• 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
• 4 gingersnap cookies
• half a 17 1/4-ounce package (1 sheet) frozen puff pastry, thawed
• lightly sweetened whipped cream or ice cream

Instructions

1. Preheat over to 450°F.9
2. In a dry heavy saucepan (about 1-quart capacity) cook sugar over moderate heat, undisturbed, until it begins to melt. Continue cooking sugar, stirring with a fork until it is melted and then swirling pan, until it is a deep-golden caramel. Pour caramel into four 6-ounce ramekins (3 1/4 to 3 1/2 inches in diameter).
3. Peel and cut 1 apple into 5 wedges and core wedges. Put wedges back together to re-form apple shape and stand upright, stem end down, in a ramekin (wedges will protrude over rim). Repeat procedure with remaining apples.
4. Cut butter into 4 pieces. Put 1 gingersnap, broken into 4 pieces, in center of each re-formed apple and top with 1 piece of butter. Arrange ramekins in a shallow baking pan and bake apples in middle of oven 45 minutes.
5. While apples are baking, halve puff-pastry sheet crosswise and then lengthwise to make 4 nearly square pieces and chill, wrapped in plastic wrap. Remove baking sheet with ramekins from oven and drape a piece of puff pastry over each apple (edges of pastry will extend beyond rims). Return pan to oven and reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Bake tarts 20 to 25 minutes, or until pastry is puffed and golden brown.
6. Remove tarts from oven. Invert heatproof dessert plates over ramekins and invert tarts carefully onto them.
7. Serve tarts warm with whipped cream or ice cream.