Easy French Apple Tart

There is something so comforting about a warm French Apple Tart on a cold, rainy day. From the flakiness of the pastry to the sweet applesauce and crunchy apples, this classic French dessert is sure to make everyone happy!

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If you are looking for a recipe for an easy apple tart, you will not find an easier one than this one! Perfect to serve at a dinner party, bring to friends or for the Holiday season, this French Apple Tart is best served warm with a scoop of Ice Cream.

What Pastry to use for a French Apple Tart

The main work of this recipe will be on the Pastry. Although this tart would work great with any type of pastry, especially Puff Pastry, I decided to go for a flakey and buttery Sweet Shortcrust Pastry with Almond Meal, known as Pâte Sucrée in French. This Classic French Pastry works great with fruit tarts and has the perfect texture to bring some crunch to the dessert!

This tart crust recipe is one of the 3 classic French Pastry: Pâte Sucrée (like here), Pâte Brisée and Pâte Feuilletée (Puff Pastry). The first two are quite similar, and hard to translate in English as there is no real translation to differentiate the two. The last one is the well know Puff Pastry that can be hard to reproduce at home.

All three Pastries will work fine for this recipe so it is really up to you to choose the one you prefer. And if you do not want to make your own pastry, you can obviously buy it.

French Apple Tart Ingredients

The most ingredients you will need are for the sweet pastry crust. Once that pastry is made, you will only need 3 ingredients to fill the tart!

To make the sweet almond pastry, you will need:

• Butter at room temperature
• Plain Flour
• Powdered Sugar (or icing sugar)
• Almond Meal
• Salt
• Egg

For the apple tart filling, you will need:

• Applesauce
• fresh Apples
• a little bit of Lemon Juice

For the Apples, I used Pink Lady Apples – the perfect mix of sweet and tart. The kind of apple you use will really change the taste of the dessert so it is up to you to pick the one you prefer! Something like a Granny Smith will give a strong, acid taste to the dessert while a Crispin or Golden Delicious will add a lot of sweetness.

Make sure you read my “Best Apple for Baking Guide” to pick the right apple for you and your dessert!

How to make French Apple Tart with Applesauce

As you can tell, there are 3 elements that make this dessert:

• the pastry
• the filling
• the fruits

The pastry part is probably the trickiest, especially if you are not used to make your own. The other two are extremely easy – anyone can do it! Let’s look into the 3 steps in more details.

Sweet Almond Pastry

There are two ways of making a pastry: by sablage (rubbing dry ingredients with butter then adding a liquid) or by cremage (creaming the butter and sugar then adding the rest of the ingredients). This recipe was made with the sablage technique in the mixer:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in the bowl of your mixer: Flour, Powdered Sugar, Almond Meal and Salt. Add the Butter cut in small cubes, at room temperature.
2. Mix with the flat beater attachment until you get really small crumbs of dough and the butter looks evenly distributed in the flour.
3. Add the beaten Egg and quickly mix until combined, then transfer between two sheets of baking paper. Roll the the required dimensions and place in the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes

Note that you can also make it by hands, using your fingers or a Pastry Blender to cut the butter into the dry ingredients. Or even use your food processor!

French Apple Tart Filling

This tart filling is probably the easiest you will ever find – especially if you buy a pre-made applesauce. Yes, it is a one-ingredient only tart filling! I usually make my own applesauce so I can control the spices and amount of sugar that goes in, but you can absolutely buy a jar of applesauce if you do not have time to make it.

If you use a store-bought applesauce, I recommend tasting it first and adjusting the flavours to your taste if needed: more or different spices, level of sweetness, a little bit more acidity with lemon juice etc,…

Thinly Sliced Apples

To finish the tart, I very thinly sliced some apples and placed them in 3 circles on the applesauce filling. To get a super thin slice of apple (or any fruit/veg), I highly recommend using a Mandoline Slicer to get evenly sliced apples.

While you slice the apples, place them in a tray or bowl with a little bit of lemon juice. This is to make sure they do not start oxidising and turn brown before baking. At this point, you could also add some spices or sugar to the apples if you want.

How to store the French Apple Pie

This tart is better eaten straight away, or within 24 hours. The Applesauce filling is rather liquid/wet and will start soaking the pastry straight away; which is not especially a problem for taste, but will change the texture of the pastry overtime.

If not eaten straight away, I recommend keeping this apple tart in the fridge for 24 hours (for an optimal texture) or up to 48 hours. Re-heat it a little bit in the oven at low temperature before serving it.

Can the Apple Tart be frozen

Maybe thinking of making this tart in advance, or saving a few slices for later? You may wonder “can I freeze French Apple Tart“. Although technically, you could basically freeze anything, I do not recommend freezing this one.

With the applesauce filling and the thinly sliced apples, it is a rather delicate dessert that would not do well in the freezer. What can easily be done though, if you want to start making this tart early, is to prepare the Sweet Pastry, chill it, fill the tart pan THEN freeze it unbaked.

Unbaked pastries actually do great in the freezer! That way, the hardest part can be done early and you will just have to fill the pastry and bake it with the fillings on the day. Simply add 5 minutes to the blind-baking time to thaw the pastry in the oven.

More Fruit Tart Ideas:

Plum and Vanilla Custard Tart

4 Ingredients Berry Tarts
from Kidgredients

Can you make this tart in advance

Like I mentioned above, this tart is better eaten straight away or within 24 hours, before the applesauce starts to soak the pastry. If you would like to make this tart in advance, there are two options:

• make the pastry and freeze it before baking it (see above), then bake it with the apples and filling on the day
• make the pastry and blind bake it the day before, wrap it well and keep it at room temperature for 24 hours then finish the baking with the apples and filling just before serving it.

What to serve with this Easy Apple Tart

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of serving this tart is Vanilla Ice Cream. It’s a classic combo between the vanilla and the apples, the hot and cold,… just an all around winner! But if you want something a bit more original, here are a few other ideas:

• More Applesauce – always homemade!
• a Raspberry Coulis to play with the colours and flavours
• a simple Crème Anglaise
• some Berry Compote
• a little bit of Whipped Cream or Chantilly

More French Dessert Ideas:

How to make Profiteroles

Triple French Chocolate Tart

Choux à la Crème (French Cream Puffs)

How to make Pastry Cream

French Buckwheat Crepes

Sablé Breton Cookies (French Salted Butter Cookies)

Easy French Apple Tart with Applesauce Recipe: