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My easy puff pastry apple tart is ready in under 40 minutes using simple ingredients! Flaky and so scrumptiously sweet, it makes the perfect easy dessert for enjoying when the weather cools down and you're craving Fall flavors. (Though, to be honest, I enjoy it year-round!)
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Rustic Apple Tart
For as eye-catching as a rustic apple tart can be, with its beautiful layered apples and golden brown crust, you'd probably think it's a little more complicated than other desserts, right?
Well, this is one easy apple tart: it's ready in just 40 minutes using simple ingredients, including store-bought puff pastry and freshly sliced apples.
If you're like me and you love to surprise your loved ones with a homemade dessert, this is the perfect recipe for you. It's very impressive, with all of the flavors you crave in apple pie, but requires hardly any effort and time.
Apple Tart Ingredients
- Puff Pastry: For this recipe, I'm using store-bought puff pastry sheets. If you prefer making your own puff pastry dough, you can use that, instead, but I find the pre-made dough much easier and so tasty.
- Apples: Granny Smith apples are recommended. Avoid using Red Delicious apples - they are not good baking apples.
- Brown Sugar: You can use light or dark brown sugar. I'm using dark brown sugar.
- Vanilla Extract: A little bit of vanilla goes a long way in a dessert recipe like this!
- Cinnamon: For a warm flavor that perfectly complements the slightly tart apples.
- Butter: Use unsalted butter. If you only have salted butter, leave out the salt this recipe calls for.
- Salt: Any salt will do.
- Egg: This is for brushing the tart, which will help it brown.
- Turbinado Sugar: This sugar is crystalline and crunchy, adding a truly delicious flavor and texture to the tart.
Best Apples for Apple Tarts
This recipe coats the apples in a delicious spiced sugar mix, so tart apples will balance out the sweet perfectly. I suggest Granny Smith, but if you're a fan of sweeter treats, Golden Delicious, Jonagold, Honeycrisp, or Braeburn will bake up well and are less tart than Granny Smith. Avoid Red Delicious apples, which are not good baking apples for their texture and flavor.
How to Make an Apple Tart
- Preheat the oven to 400°F, then line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Thaw out a sheet of puff pastry and place all 3 rectangles on the baking sheet. While the oven is preheating, slice the apples thinly.
- Add the sliced apples to a bowl, then add the brown sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, melted butter, and salt. Mix with a spoon until all the apples are evenly coated.
- Layer the coated apple slices onto the pastry sheets so that each slice overlaps. Spoon any remaining sugar mixture over the apples to form a cinnamon sugar glaze.
- Beat the egg, then use a pastry brush to brush the egg onto the exposed edges of the puff pastry.
- Sprinkle turbinado sugar over each pastry to add crunch, then put the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and fluffy.
- Remove, slice if desired, and serve immediately! This pastry pairs beautifully with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream.
Apple Puff Pastry Tips
- I like the rustic look of simple rectangles of pastry, but feel free to change things up! Take large cookie cutters and cut out pieces of pastry for extra cute and themed mini apple tarts, or cut the pastry rectangles down into smaller envelope-size pieces for puff pastry apple tartlets!
- I love the contrast of tart and sweet that a tart apple like Granny Smith gives to this recipe, but feel free to use your favorite baking apple! Just make sure that it's an apple that softens up well while baked without losing shape and turning to apple sauce.
- These apple tarts are best right out of the oven, but if there are some left over, wrap them in plastic and set them in the refrigerator. They'll last 3-5 days and can be heated up with a quick pop back in the oven!
Apple Tart Recipes FAQ
They're close, but not quite! Apple tart is a classic French desert that uses a single thin layer of pastry as a crust, without a top layer. Typically, apple tart also has less liquid involved.
Yes, and it's amazing! Puff pastry bakes perfectly into a crispy, fluffy crust that's sturdy without being dense. Plus, it's quick, easy, and stores well in the freezer until you need it.
Apple Dessert Recipes
For the holidays, try my Vanilla Creme Brulee next!
Puff Pastry Apple Tart
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 sheet Puff pastry - thawed and cut into thirds
- 3 medium Granny Smith apples - or 4 small
- ⅔ cups Brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons Unsalted butter - melted
- ⅛ teaspoon Salt
- 1 Egg - beaten
- 2 teaspoons Turbinado sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F, then line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Thaw out a sheet of puff pastry, cut into thirds, and place all 3 rectangles on the baking sheet. While the oven preheats, slice the apples thinly.1 sheet Puff pastry,3 medium Granny Smith apples
- Add the apples to a bowl, then add the brown sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, melted butter and salt. Mix with a spoon until all the apples are evenly coated.⅔ cups Brown sugar,1 teaspoon Vanilla extract,1 teaspoon Cinnamon,2 Tablespoons Unsalted butter,⅛ teaspoon Salt
- Layer the coated apple slices onto the pastry sheets so that each slice overlaps. Spoon any remaining sugar mix over the apples to form a cinnamon sugar glaze.
- Beat the egg, then use a pastry brush to brush the egg on to the exposed edges of the puff pastry.1 Egg
- Sprinkle turbinado sugar over each pastry to add crunch, then put the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and fluffy.2 teaspoons Turbinado sugar
- Remove, slice if desired, and serve immediately! This pastry pairs beautifully with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream.
Notes
- I like the rustic look of simple rectangles of pastry, but feel free to change things up! Take large cookie cutters and cut out pieces of pastry for extra cute and themed mini apple tarts, or cut the pastry rectangles down into smaller envelope-size pieces for puff pastry apple tartlets!
- I love the contrast of tart and sweet that a tart apple like Granny Smith gives to this recipe, but feel free to use your favorite baking apple! Just make sure that it's an apple that softens up well while baked without losing shape and turning to apple sauce.
- These apple tarts are best right out of the oven, but if there are some left over, wrap them in plastic and set them in the refrigerator. They'll last 3-5 days and can be heated up with a quick pop back in the oven!
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