To celebrate The Hunchback of Notre Dame’s Feast of Fools, I chose to make a traditionally french dessert: tarte tatin.

To start, you can either make your own puff pastry (check out Fantasia Mushroom Puffs for my recipe), or you can use storebought. Pepperidge Farm’s frozen puff pastry is totally vegan!

With that aside, here’s what you’ll need:

• puff pastry
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup vegan butter
• 8 small pears
• 2 tsp crushed cardamom seeds
• 2 TBS orange juice
• zest of 1 orange

Start by just preheating the oven to 390F. Then, cut the sheets of puff pastry in half crossways to create two smaller rectangles. Lay one over the other to make a cross. Prick the sheets with a fork, then return them to the fridge to stay chilled.

Sprinkle the sugar over the base of a frying pan, then place the pan over medium-high heat and cook without stirring for 2 minutes, or until the sugar begins to dissolve and turns light-golden. Then, add the butter and stir until it melts. Then, add your pear– peeled, cored, and sliced lengthwise. Make sure to coat them thoroughly in the caramel!

(My caramel was a touch too dark)

Then, add your cardamom, orange juice, and zest to infuse the flavor into the caramel. Continue cooking until the mixture bubbles slightly, then remove the pan from heat and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Turn the pears so they are all facing cut-side up in the pan (I did this upside down whoops!) and are nestled fairly tight in a single layer.

Cover the pears with the puff pastry cross, tuck the edges under, and use the tip of a knife to make 5 slits in the pastry. Then, bake it for about an hour.

Once it’s baked, let it cool in the pan for about 5 minutes. Then, run the tip of a small knife around the edge of the pan and flip the tarte out onto a serving plate. Serve with vegan ice cream!