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.
Jump to:
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.
Why you'll love this recipe
Craving for more Apple desserts? Give these a try : Soft apple coffee cake recipe, Apple Galette des rois, Dutch apple pie, French apple tart (Tarte Normande)
Ingredients You Need
You need these ingredients to make this classic French apple tart:
- Shortcrust pastry:
- Apple sauce filling:
- Apples:
How to make Traditional French Apple tart Recipe
Here are some quick visual instructions. Don't forget that full instructions with exact ingredients can be found in the main recipe card below!
- Place the dry ingredients, all purpose flour, confectioners' sugar, pinch of salt and cold butter cut into pieces in a large bowl.
- With your hands and fingertips, mix the preparation until you obtain a crumbly and sandy texture.
- Add the cold water and still with your hands gather the preparation without kneading too much to form a homogeneous ball.
- Cover with cling film and let rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- 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.
- Grease a tart pan with butter, or you can also use a tart ring.
- Place the disc of dough on the pan and line the tart pan, starting with the center and working up the edges.
- Cut off the excess with a knife and prick with a fork.
- Spread a thin layer of applesauce in the bottom of the crust.
- Cut in regular slices apples peeled with a knife, trying to keep the same thickness of slices.
- Carefully arrange each apple slice in a rosette, lining up the slices until they completely cover the entire tart.
- 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.
Serving Suggestions
- Salted caramel sauce
- Scoop of vanilla ice cream
- Homemade whipped cream
- Pecan nuts
Tips for this recipe
Storage and Freeze
Variations & Substitutions
Recipe Questions
Cut thin, even slices of apple and place them on top of each other following the contours of the pan. Apply a new row of apple slices but in the opposite direction and finish with very small pieces of apple in the center.
More Tart Recipes
I hope you love this apple tart with apple sauce filling. If you make it, be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Happy Baking!
PrintFrench Apple tart
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 10 parts
Description
Easy recipe of the traditional French apple tart with applesauce filling (for a 10 inch /25 cm tart - about 10- 12 slices)
Ingredients
Tart shell
- 200 g (1 ⅔ cups) Flour - all-purpose
- 1 tbsp. confectioner’s sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 100 g (½ cup) Butter - cold
- 50 g (¼ cup) Water - cold
Filling
- 4-5 Apples
- 4-5 tbsp. Applesauce
Instructions
Shortcrust dough
- Place the ingredients in a large bowl, flour, confectioner’s sugar, salt, and chopped cold butter.
- Mix with your fingers, mashing the cold butter into the flour until you have a sandy mixture.
- Then add the cold water and gather the dough without kneading too much until you get a fairly homogeneous ball.
- Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper and place in the freezer for 5 minutes or 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
- Then line a pie dish with the dough disk and prick the bottom with a fork.
Filling:
- Garnish the inside with a layer of applesauce.
- Place thin slices of apples on the crust, following the outline of the tart until it is completely covered.
- Cut small pieces of butter and scatter them on top of the tart.
Baking
- Preheat the oven to 392°F / 200°C then lower the temperature to 350°F / 180°C and bake the tart for about 40 - 45 minutes until golden brown and the apples are cooked through.
- Let the tart cool down before removing it from the mould and serving it.
Notes
Storage: About 3 to 5 days in the refrigerator and up to 3 months in the freezer.
To shine the apples and the crust : Apply a layer of sugar syrup (so much water and sugar heated in a pan) with a brush to make the apples shine.
Tip: Let the tart rest in the freezer for 30 minutes before baking to prevent the edges from falling off during baking.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: tart,pie
- Cuisine: French
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 188
- Sugar: 8.9 g
- Sodium: 235.1 mg
- Fat: 8.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 26.8 g
- Protein: 2.4 g
- Cholesterol: 21.5 mg
Leave a Reply