Apple Tarte Tatin

1.Place your flour, 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar, and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Cut 1/2 cup butter into small cubes and add them into the flour mixture. Toss them around so that they’re coated and use your fingers to squash each butter cube into flatter pieces.
2.Pour water over butter-flour mixture and use a spatula to bring it together into a dough that will seem too wet and sticky, but will be just fine. Wrap into a flatish packet wrapped in plastic. Chill in the fridge until firm — one to two hours.
3.Peel and cut apples in thirds off the core and cut any remaining seeds. Squeeze lemon juice over them and toss to coat. Leave 1/4 cup very cold butter ready by the stove.
4.Pour 3/4 cup sugar into a large 12-inch skillet and place over medium-high heat and cook, without stirring, until sugar is partially liquefied, about 4 minutes. Whisk until all unmelted sugar disappears into the caramel and turn the heat down to medium low. Cook until the sugar is dark amber, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat, immediately add butter and whisk to melt and combine. This will hold the color where it is.
5.Return to the heat and add the apples and cook over medium high heat. The caramel will seize up a bit and will seem too thick to coat the apples, but it will loosen up in a minute. Cook, gently stirring and turning to ensure even cooking, until apples soften and begin to turn translucent at the edges and are about 3/4 of the way cooked through, about 10 minutes. This is not an exact science; larger or more dense apples may take longer.
6.Using tongs, transfer apples, rounded side down, one at a time to a 10-inch skillet with an oven-proof handle. Arrange them in a concentric circle around the outside, overlapping each apple by about 1/3 and purposely crowding them. Arrange remaining apples in the center of the ring. You may not use all the pieces. Pour any extra caramel in the skillet over the apples. Let this cool for 10 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
7.Take the dough out and put it on a lightly floured surface. Flour the rolling pin and dough. Roll the dough out to a 11" circle. Top sautéed apples with the pastry round, tucking the edges in all around. Cut a vent in the center, and bake for 35 minutes minutes, or until pastry is nicely browned and apples are bubbling around the edges.
8.Run a butter knife around the edges to loosen. Let cool in the pan at least 30 minutes and up to 60 minutes. Add heavy cream and vanilla to standing mixer. Whip on low for 1 minute then add powdered sugar and whip on medium high until medium peaks form, do not overwhip. Set aside.
9.Peek under the crust if you can, or tilt the pan slightly, looking for evidence that the caramel and juices have thickened slightly. To invert, top with a serving plate and grasp the pan and plate tightly together as a unit and flip quickly. Remove the pan. If any apples stick to the pan, just replace them where they should go on the tart. Serve warm, with whipped cream.