Classic Apple tart recipe

The best homemade classic apple tart which is so easy and delicious. This is the traditional French apple tart recipe made with a crispy and buttered homemade pastry crust, filled with applesauce and garnished with apple slices.

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French Apple Tart

This traditional French apple tart is a classic dessert in France. It is a favorite family dessert to share on any occasion, a delicious grandmother's recipe that is so easy to make at home.

Made with a crispy, buttery shortcrust pastry very similar to pie dough with a generous layer of cinnamon flavored applesauce and beautifully sliced apples arranged in a rosette.

This is certainly the most popular recipe in France, the apples are tender with the combination of a homemade crust which makes it a perfect dessert served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or salted caramel sauce.

Apple Tarts Recipes

There are many different apple tarts recipes around the world and even in some regions of France. The most well known version is the famous Apple Pie with caramelized apples and cinnamon, or the tatin tart, an upside down apple pie, with an almond cream frangipane filling like the Normandy tart or the Alsatian tart.

Composition of this tart

The main ingredients are very basic and easy to prepare at home. This type of tart suitable for all kinds of fruit that can be cooked, such as pears, apples, strawberries, apricot, rhubarb, cherries, etc.

For the crisp base, we most often use a homemade shortcrust pastry but we can replace it with a sweet pastry with a sandier texture like my strawberry tart recipe made with almond meal like this rustic apple tart version.

And other recipes also use puff pastry dough like in my recipe for Puff Pastry Apple tart which is a delicious version.

Ingredients for this recipe

Pastry crust

• Flour : all-purpose flour
• Sugar: It is optional, you can add powdered sugar or confectioner's sugar.
• Butter: Use unsalted butter cut into pieces and cold.
• Salt: a pinch of salt
• Water: Use cold water.

Apple slices and applesauce filling

• Applesauce: Follow my homemade applesauce recipe which simply consists of cooking the apples with sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract and lemon juice in a saucepan until you have a puree or use ready-made applesauce from the store.
• Apples: The Royal Gala or Golden delicious apples varieties have a juicy flesh.

Optional:

• Almond cream (frangipane): Replace the applesauce with almond cream filling.
• Chocolate chips: With my homemade chocolate chip recipe for a touch of chocolate.
• Spices: Add cinnamon ground which goes very well with the apples.

How to make Apple tart

You can make this with your food processor by simply mixing all the ingredients together with the hook, or follow my recipe by making the dough with your hands.

Crust

1. Place the dry ingredients, all purpose flour, confectioners' sugar, pinch of salt and cold butter cut into pieces in a large bowl.
2. With your hands and fingertips, mix the preparation until you obtain a crumbly and sandy texture.
3. Add the cold water and still with your hands gather the preparation without kneading too much to form a homogeneous ball.
4. Cover with cling film and let rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Tip: To save time you can roll it immediately between 2 sheets of parchment paper and place it in the freezer for 5 minutes.

Line the tart pan

1. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin on a lightly floured work surface or between 2 sheets of parchment paper to 2 inch thick / 3mm.
2. Grease a tart pan with butter, or you can also use a tart ring.
3. Place the disc of dough on the pan and line the tart pan, starting with the center and working up the edges.
4. Cut off the excess with a knife and prick with a fork.

Tip: use your thumb to go over all the angles to make sure it has taken the shape of the mold.

Filling

1. Spread a thin layer of applesauce in the bottom of the crust.
2. Cut in regular slices apples peeled with a knife, trying to keep the same thickness of slices.
3. Carefully arrange each apple slice in a rosette, lining up the slices until they completely cover the entire tart.

Tip: For a beautiful tart, arrange the apple slices on top of each other following the outline of the pan and change the direction of the second row.

Baking

• Preheat the oven to 392°F / 200°C.
• Put small pieces of butter on top on the sliced apples. (you can also sprinkle some cane sugar on the top of the tart before baking it)
• Lower the temperature to 350°F / 180°C and bake for about 40 - 45 minutes until the apples are tender and golden brown.
• Allow the tart to cool completely in the pan before removing it from and serving.

Tip: Place the tart in the freezer for 30 minutes before baking so that the edges of the dough don't fall off during cooking.

What to serve with this fruit tart

We eat it by itself at home because it is so delicious. But if you want to make it a great dessert for your guests, you can serve it with one of these toppings that will go perfectly with the apples:

• Salted caramel sauce
• Scoop of vanilla ice cream
• Homemade whipped cream
• Pecan nuts

Frequently asked questions

More apple recipes

• Soft apple coffee cake recipe
• Apple Galette des rois
• Dutch apple pie

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