Apple Tart Using Puff Pastry

Delicious and easy apple tart on flaky crust topped with sweet apricot glaze. A perfect baking recipe for apple season.

Apples and flaky pastry are made to become a perfect combination. They work perfect for morning or afternoon tea and as a light dessert after dinner. Of course, it is considered a fall recipe, but who said we can’t make it any time of the year?

I love how in 45 minutes I can have these amazing tarts just with some frozen puff pastry and fresh apples.

Why You Should Make This Recipe

• Absolutely delicious dessert with butter puff pastry melting in your mouth and sweet juicy apples with rich apricot jam.
• A great use of apples when in season.
• Easy recipe with 6 basic ingredients and straightforward steps. No fuss, no mess!

Ingredients To Make Apple Tart

• A sheet of puff pastry (thawed). Store-bought puff pastry or homemade puff pastry – both work. If using frozen puff pastry, thaw puff pastry in the fridge overnight or on the counter for 40-50 minutes at room temperature before baking. Any brand of puff pastry sheets will work from Jos Rol to Dufour.
• Fresh apples – medium (peeled, cored, and thinly sliced). Sweet apples or a combination of sweet and tart apples work great.
• Unsalted butter (melted) – unsalted
• Granulated sugar to top the apples before baking them.
• Ground cinnamon adds some fall flavors and highlights apples really well. You can also use nutmeg if you like it.
• Apricot jam (optional, for glaze)

What Are The Best Apples For Apple Tarts?

Good apples to use for this recipe are Golden Delicious, Pink Lady, Gala apples, Granny Smith apples, Fiji, or Honeycrisp apples.

Kitchen Equipment

• Baking sheet lined with parchment paper

How To Make Puff Pastry Apple Tart

1: Prep Work

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Peel apples, core them, and slice apples thinly. If making ahead you can toss sliced apples in some lemon juice to prevent apples from turning brown.
3. Place the thawed puff pastry sheet on a piece of parchment paper. 
4. Lightly flour the working surface. Use a rolling pin to roll out the puff pastry crust, smoothing out any creases.
5. Transfer the pastry to the lined sheet pan.

2: Arrange Apples

Arrange the apple slices into rows on the pastry. You want them to overlap. Make sure to leave some space around the edges of the pastry for the border.

3: Spread The Cinnamon Sugar Mixture

1. Brush the apples with melted butter before sprinkling with sugar and cinnamon.
2. If you don’t melt the butter you can also add small cubes of butter here and there over the apple mixture. I prefer using melted butter as it helps me to spread the buttery flavor more evenly.

4: Bake The Apple Tart

1. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the apples are tender and the pastry is golden brown.
2. As they bake, apples caramelize with cinnamon and sugar and become sweeter.

5: Spread Apricot Jam

If you are adding the glaze, brush it over the top of the tart immediately after removing it from the oven, while it is still hot to create a gloss.

6: Cool & Serve

1. Allow the tart to cool slightly before cutting and serving.
2. Serve the apple tart warm with vanilla ice cream (or your favorite ice cream) and/or a dollop of whipped cream. A drizzle of caramel sauce goes really well with apple tart.
3. To keep things simple, you can always just dust some powdered sugar on top of the tart.

Storing

Storing. The apple tart with puff pastry is best served and eaten the same day. You can store leftovers in the fridge for 2-3 days in an airtight container.

Freezing. Do not freeze cooked puff pastry apple tart. Unbaked assembled apple tart can be frozen for 2-3 months.

Making ahead: assemble the tart, cover it with plastic wrap tightly, and freeze. Don’t need to thaw before baking.

Variations & Substitutions

• You can make the apricot glaze with melted apricot preserves too.
• Apple mixture. I sprinkle the sugar mixture on top of the apples, but you can also combine the sugar, lemon juice, and sliced apples in a bowl and toss the apples. Not enough apple flavors? Add some homemade applesauce to the bottom of the crust.
• Instead of apricot jam, you can use fig preserves or raspberries.
• More flavors. Nice additional flavors come from vanilla extract or almonds (extract or nuts).
• French apple tart. Booze it up with some bourbon or rum (like Caldavos) added to the glaze or apple filling.
• You can add some brown sugar to the sugar mixture to introduce a light caramel flavor.
• Make individual apple tarts with puff pastry aka Puff Pastry Apple Tartlets. 4,5×4,5 inches is a good size for portion-sized apple tarts.

How To Make Puff Pastry Dough From Scratch

1. This is my go-to puff pastry recipe for sweet and savory dishes.
2. What really makes the puff pastry stand out, is the amount of butter. Full-fat puff pastry is the best, but many of the store-bought puff pastries use oil or shortening.
3. You need 1 and 1/3 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar, a pinch of salt, 1.5 sticks of unsalted cold butter, and cold water.
4. Mix all the ingredients except water with your hands, just until the butter is warm but still chunky. Add 1 tablespoon of ice water and gently combine with your hands again. Repeat until the dough is hydrated but the butter is still chunky.
5. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and press the dough down to 1-inch thickness. Fold it like a letter or towel in 3 folds, wrap it in plastic wrap, and chill the dough overnight in the fridge. The next day roll it till 1/2 inch thick and fold, cover, and chill again.
6. After the second chilling, the dough is ready to use.

Expert Tips For Making The Best Puff Pastry Apple Tart

• Egg wash is optional but gives the pie crust a nice golden brown color.
• It is best to go with medium to smaller apples. Then you core them, cut in half, and proceed to thinly slice each half.
• Thawing puff pastry in the fridge takes up to 3 hours so you need to start defrosting it ahead of time. Much faster is to let it thaw at room temperature or in the microwave. The pastry is ready to be rolled when it unfolds easily and doesn’t break or tear.
• Try to thinly slice the apples and make equally thin slices to allow them to cook through at the same time. 1/4 inch is the ideal thickness.
• The apple juices may run off of the edges during the baking process so that is why you should step a bit from the edges and don’t lay the apple slices all the way to the sides. The juices can make the crust burn. You can also lift up the edges a bit.

Popular Questions

Apple Pie Vs Apple Puff Pastry Tart

Apple pie has a bottom crust that can be anything from cakey crust to puff pastry, and it is also covered with a top crust. An apple tart recipe only calls for a puff pastry bottom crust. This Apple puff pastry tart is easier to make than an apple pie.

Do You Need To Blind-Bake Puff Pastry For A Tart?

For this apple tart, you don’t need to blind-bake the pastry first. Together with the apple mixture, it will bake through in time.

How Do You Keep Puff Pastry Tart From Getting Soggy?

Skip an inch from the edges to line up the apple slices to prevent juices from getting over the edge and making the bottom puff crust soggy and burnt.

You can chill the assembled tart in the fridge for 15-30 minutes before baking to let it set.

What Is The Best Way To Use Puff Pastry?

Puff pastry is super versatile and works for both savory dishes and sweet desserts. I like making puff pastry fruit tarts, twists, and savory pies.

If you love this cozy treat recipe, you’re going to love these other fall favorites too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!

More Great Apple Treats

Apple and Blueberry Crumble

Apple Butter Cruffins

Mini Apple Pies

Apple Cobbler Cake

---

---