Puff pastry apple tart is a buttery and flaky apple pastry made with puff pastry topped with a thin layer of sweet apricot preserves and warmly spiced tart apple slices. Once baked until golden brown, top these apple puff pastry tarts with vanilla ice cream or salted caramel for the perfect easy to make apple dessert.
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Why Should You Make This Recipe
I adore making desserts and breakfast treats with puff pastry. After making my Apple Danish, Strawberry Danish, Cherry Danish, Blueberry Turnovers and Cherry Turnovers I just knew I needed to make more recipes using fruit and puff pastry. I am so excited to add this apple puff pastry recipe to the blog. I know you’ll love it because:
- You need a quick, but impressive breakfast or dessert. Whether you are looking for a sweet and delicious dessert or a need an easy and fancy breakfast idea, these apple puff pastry tarts are the perfect baked treat.
- Easy to make with layers of flavor. These apple tarts with puff pastry use just a handful of simple ingredients to make. All you have to do is assemble, bake and enjoy.
Ingredients
These easy and delicious puff pastry tarts with apples requires only a handful of ingredients to make. Here’s what you need.
- Apple Filling: Gather fresh apples, sugar, light brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
- Puff Pastry: Gather store bought or homemade puff pastry sheets, apricot preserves, an egg and butter.
Substitutions
These apple and puff pastry tarts are meant to be quick, easy and delicious. Here are my recommended substitutions for this apple tart recipe if you need them.
- Apples: The best apple for these apple tarts are tart with a hint of sweetness. Basically the same apples you would use to make an apple pie are the same ones that work well for this recipe. Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Jonagold, Fuji, Pink Lady and Cosmic are all good choices.
- Sugar and Light Brown Sugar: This puff pastry apple tart recipe calls for granulated sugar and light brown sugar, but maple sugar would also work well to make this recipe refined sugar free.
- Lemon Juice: This is to help prevent the apples from browning. Replace the lemon juice with water or apple cider.
- Cinnamon and Nutmeg: Both spices are traditionally paired with apples and taste amazing with apricot jam. If you’re familiar with french apple tarts, you know this well. Use all cinnamon or nutmeg or apple pie spice in palace of the specified spices.
- Puff Pastry Sheets: Feel free to use homemade puff pastry if you like. I love using store bought puff pastry sheets. Make this apple tart recipe gluten free by using gluten free puff pastry.
- Egg: An egg wash brushed on the apple puff pastries creates a lovely golden brown color after baking. Feel free to omit if needed.
- Apricot Jam: Feel free to replace this with another preserve such as mango or peach or even apple jam. Honey would also make a great substitute for the apricot preserves.
Variations
- Apple Pear Tart: This classic fall fruit pairing would be a delicious way to make this puff pastry tart. Use an equal amount of sliced apples and pears. Make sure to prepare both the same way and cut them to the same size. Follow the rest of the recipe as written.
- Apple Cream Cheese Puff Pastry Tart: Swap the apricot preserves with cream cheese or mascarpone cheese. Mix 8 oz. cream cheese until smooth. Then mix 2 - 4 tablespoons sugar and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract until smooth and well combined.
- French Apple Tart: Add 1 - 2 tablespoons of bourbon to the apple mixture. Follow the rest of the recipe as written.
- Flavorful crunchy toppings: Sprinkle chopped nuts like pecans, walnuts, or hazelnuts over the apples right before baking. Adding nuts to the top give another layer of flavor and texture to the tart.
How To Make
Learn how to make puff pastry apple tart in a few easy steps.
- Make sure to pull the puff pastry to thaw at room temperature for about 30 - 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 F (204 C). Peel, core and slice 4 medium apples into ¼ inch thick slices. In a mixing bowl, mix the apple slices with sugar, light brown sugar, lemon juice, ground cinnamon, nutmeg and salt until well combined.
- Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Unfold one sheet of puff pastry to form a square. Gently press or roll out the puff pastry so it is completely flat. To form three apple pastries from one sheet, slice the puff pastry along the folded lines. If needed, roll out the three puff pastry rectangles to fit the size of the apple slices with a ¼ inch border. With a small pairing knife, score or gently cut into the dough, but not all the way through a boarder about ¼ inch from the edges of the puff pastry rectangle.
- Smooth 1 - 2 teaspoons (15 ml) of apricot preserves into the center of each of the puff pastries. Stay inside the borders of the smaller rectangle. Top the preserves with the apple slices. Arrange them in any way you like. I prefer slightly overlapping 4 of them and alternating the direction of the group of apple slices. Lightly brush the edges of the puff pastry with the lightly beaten egg. Right before baking, top the apples with a couple of small cubes of butter.
4. Bake the apple puff pastry tart for 18 - 20 minutes or until the pastries are a light golden brown color. Cool the puff pastry apple tart on the hot baking sheet for 5 minutes. While the apple tarts are still warm, spread more apricot preserves on top of the apples, dust with powdered sugar if you like and serve with cold vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
How To Store, Freeze and Serve
- Store: Transfer any leftover apple tart pieces in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 - 4 days. This puff pastry apple tart is fine to enjoy at room temperature within 2 - 3 hours after baking.
- Freeze: I do not recommend freezing and thawing these puff pastry apple tarts.
- Serve: Puff pastry apple tarts are perfect when served with ice cream, whipped cream, caramel sauce or just enjoyed as is.
M’s Expert Tips
- Prepare the pastries on the baking sheet. This is the easiest way to ensure the pastries stay intact.
- Gently roll out the puff pastry. Pressing the puff pastry too much can cause the layers to press together, resulting in less rise.
- Chill the puff pastry. Transfer to the fridge for 15 - 20 minutes before baking.The colder the puff pastry dough, the more flaky curst and the higher the rise.
- Don’t overfill the puff pastry. Use 1 - 2 teaspoons apricot preserves per tart and about 9 - 12 apple slices per apple tart.
- Don’t forget the toppings. I love topping my puff pastry apple tart with vanilla ice cream. Salted caramel or whipped cream would also be delicious topping.
FAQs
How do I thaw puff pastry?
Most boxes of store bought puff pastry give thawing directions. Follow the directions listed on the box. Typically puff pastry is removed from the freezer to sit out at room temperature for 45 - 60 minutes.
How do you keep puff pastry tart from getting soggy?
Make sure the puff pastry is cold before baking. Chill the puff pastry in the fridge while the oven fully heats up or about 20 minutes before baking. Make sure the oven is hot and fully preheated. The best temperature for baking puff pastry tarts is 400 - 425 F (205 - 218 C).
Other Apple Recipes To Try
If you try this Puff Pastry Apple Tart recipe please rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Doing so helps other readers decide if this is a great recipe to bake. Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using @olivesnthyme so I can see what you’re baking!
Puff Pastry Apple Tart Recipe
Puff pastry apple tart is a buttery and flaky apple pastry made with puff pastry topped with a thin layer of sweet apricot preserves and warmly spiced tart apple slices. Once baked until golden brown, top these apple puff pastry tarts with vanilla ice cream or salted caramel for the perfect easy to make apple dessert.
Equipment
- 1 sheet pan
- 1 sheet parchment paper
- 1 knife
- 1 mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 4 medium tart apples
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 store bought puff pastry sheets
- ¼ cup apricot preserves
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter cubed into 18 small cubes
Instructions
- Make sure to pull the puff pastry to thaw at room temperature for about 30 - 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 F (204 C).
- Peel, core and slice 4 medium apples into ¼ inch thick slices. In a mixing bowl, mix the apple slices with sugar, light brown sugar, lemon juice, ground cinnamon, nutmeg and salt until well combined. Make sure all the apple slices are coated. Set aside for now.4 medium tart apples, ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar, ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar, 1 tablespoon (15 ml) lemon juice, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon , ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ½ teaspoon salt
- Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Unfold both sheets of puff pastry to form a square. Gently press or roll out the puff pastry so it is completely flat. To form three apple pastries, slice the puff pastry along the folded lines. If needed, roll out the three puff pastry rectangles to fit the size of the apple slices with a ¼ inch border. Repeat with the remaining puff pastry sheet.To make 1 -2 large apple tarts instead of 3 - 6 smaller tarts, omit this step.2 store bought puff pastry sheets
- With a small pairing knife, score or gently cut into the dough, but not all the way through a boarder about ¼ inch from the edges of the puff pastry rectangles. If the dough is getting sticky, transfer to the fridge for 15 minutes. Prick or dock the inside of the puff pastry.
- Smooth 1 - 2 teaspoons (15 ml) of apricot preserves into the center of the puff pastries. Stay inside the borders of the smaller rectangle. If you chose to leave the puff pastry uncut, spread 2 - 3 tablespoons of preserves onto the whole puff pastry sheet. Top the preserves with the apple slices. Arrange them in any way you like. I prefer slightly overlapping 4 of them and alternating the direction of the group of apple slices.¼ cup apricot preserves
- Lightly brush the edges of the puff pastry with the lightly beaten egg. If the puff pastry has gotten a bit warm or sticky, transfer the baking sheet with the prepped apple tarts into the fridge to chill for 15 - 20 minutes. Chilling helps the puff pastry dough puff up really beautifully. Right before baking, top the apple tarts with 3 evenly spaced of small cubes of butter per tart or 9 per large tart.1 egg, lightly beaten, 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Tranfer one baking sheet from the fridge to the oven. Bake the apple puff pastry tart at 400 F (205 C) or 18 - 20 minutes or until the pastries are a light golden brown color. Cool the puff pastry apple tart on the hot baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer the remaing baking sheet from the fridge to the oven and bake.
- While the apple tarts are still warm, spread more apricot preserves on top of the apples, dust with powdered sugar if you like and serve with cold vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Notes
Store: Transfer any leftover apple tart pieces in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 - 4 days. This puff pastry apple tart is fine to enjoy at room temperature within 2 - 3 hours after baking.
Apples: Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Jonagold, Fuji, Pink Lady and Cosmic are all good choices.
This recipe uses 2 frozen and thawed puff pastry sheets. Most store bought boxes contain 2 sheets. If you prefer to make just one, cut the recipe in half.
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