This French Apple Tart (Tarte aux Pommes) consists of a store-bought puff pastry sheet which has a wonderfully crisp texture and a sweet buttery flavour. The puff pastry base is covered with smooth apple purée with apples slices arranged on top.

We are lucky to have four apple trees in our garden. They are beautiful when they blossom each year and they have been very prolific in producing some amazing fruit (except one year, see my post here on the weather saga).

Every year we find ourselves baking and making like crazy from the end of August until the Autumn and stuffing the freezer with as many apple goodies as we can fit in. By October I'm all appled-out but it's lovely to be able to have access to the apples in the freezer in the winter and spring months when there are none on the trees.

What is a Bramley Apple?

Bramley apples are large cooking apples. They are mostly green in appearance but also have a red blush from ripening in the summer sun. They are very juicy and acidic and are more sour than dessert apple varieties.

Apples are a good source of pectin which is a type of soluble fibre found naturally in apples.

Cooking apples can be used in a number of ways:

Sliced and stewed in a little water until soft and then mashed or pureed.
Use the stewed apple purée in desserts with natural yogurt or serve with custard.
Swirl through hot porridge for a delicious breakfast.
We use them in all apple cakes, add a little extra sugar of your choice if you prefer.
Bake them whole, no need to peel, just core and fill the cored hole with dried fruits.
Who doesn't love an apple pie or strudel or apple puddings.

It's not often I can get tree-ripened, truly organic, fresh from the tree, produce to cook with. It doesn't get better than that!

What you'll need to make French Apple Tart

Bramley cooking apples.
Store-bought puff pastry sheet.
Egg wash.
Butter.
Lemon juice.
Golden caster sugar or coconut sugar.

How to make French Apple Tart

Peel and roughly chop the 2-3 cooking apples.
Add a couple of tablespoons of water (more if necessary) to a pan with the chopped apples.
On a low heat, stew the apples until they are soft and broken down. Take off the heat and set aside to cool.
Unroll the puff pastry sheet, keeping the parchment paper it was wrapped in, onto a large baking sheet pan/tray.
Score a border of around 1 inch around the pastry. Prick the pastry all over inside the border with a fork. This will let any air escape and will prevent the pastry from puffing up where you don’t want it to.
Brush the pastry with the beaten egg. Leave for a couple of minutes.
With the other 2-3 cooking apples, peel and slice, coat with lemon juice to avoid browning.
Beat the apple purée until smooth and spread all over the pastry leaving out the outer margin.
Layer the apple slices over the apple purée.
Brush the apple slices with the melted butter and sprinkle with caster sugar.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and the apples are soft and lightly golden brown.

Note: you can add more apple slices on top as they do shrink once baked if you like more fruit per bite.

Can I freeze the French Apple Tart?

The apple tart is best eaten within 2-3 days, but can be frozen, wrap in parchment paper and freeze for up to a month. The pastry will be softer once thawed but still delicious! You can freeze the cooked, stewed apple purée, we make a lot of purée and it lasts really well in the freezer for months.

Why buy store-bought Puff pastry?

Do buy the ready-made puff pastry unless you really want to make your own. It’s one of my favourite shortcuts. Shop bought versions always give great results and are a huge time saver. I did make it once just to see what it entailed, it was a really long process.

How to store fresh apples

We try to pick only what we are using but when picking to store, apples should keep relatively well for weeks if unblemished and placed in a cool, dry place. They should be wrapped in newspaper and placed in single layers in a cardboard box.

Peeling apples a chore?

I use an mechanical apple peeler. It peels, cores and slices in seconds. Really useful and used a lot and not just for apples. This one can be found on Amazon.

Nutritional Info Links:

Bramley Apples

More delicious baking recipes:

French Apple Tart

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Author: Nutritious Deliciousness

Servings 12 slices

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PREP 30

COOK 25

TOTAL 55

Ingredients

▢ 2-3 medium Bramley apples, peeled, cored and chopped - for the purée
▢ 1 x ready rolled puff pastry sheet
▢ 1 egg, beaten
▢ 2-3 medium Bramley apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
▢ 50 g butter, melted
▢ 3-4 tablespoons caster sugar

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 180C/160 C fan/Gas 4.
Add a couple of tablespoons of water to a pan (more as necessary) with the chopped apples, cover and place over a low heat and simmer for a few minutes until apples have broken down and are soft.
Beat lightly so the apples are smooth. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Roll out the puff pastry onto a baking sheet and lightly score an inner margin inside the edge of the puff pastry, the edge should then puff up nicely.
Prick the pastry base with a fork to stop the middle puffing up.
Brush the pastry with the beaten egg.
Spread the apple purée all over the pastry leaving out the outer margin.
Layer the apple slices over the apple purée.
Brush the apple slices with the melted butter and sprinkle with caster or coconut sugar.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and the apples are soft and lightly golden brown.
Slice into 12 portions.

Course Baking

Calories 81kcal

Nutrition Facts

French Apple Tart

Serving Size

1 g

Amount per Serving

Calories

% Daily Value*

Fat

Polyunsaturated Fat

Cholesterol

Sodium

Carbohydrates

Fiber

Sugar

Protein

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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*Nutritional data is provided as a courtesy and is accurate to the best of my knowledge. You can verify it using the nutrition calculator of your choice. All data is based on net carbs, without sugar alcohol: Swerve, Erythritol, Monk Fruit or Allulose.

French Apple Tart

What is a Bramley Apple?

What you'll need to make French Apple Tart