Apple Frangipane Tart with Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

Any dessert with frangipane in it always seems overly complicated to make, but in reality, it's a simple almond cream that's made with a basic cookie dough method. It's layered into the cooled par-baked shortcrust pastry, topped with apple slices, and baked until puffed up and golden. This melt-in-your-mouth frangipane married with juicy honeycrisp apples is the flavor and texture combination you never knew you needed.

For more easy, yet impressive desserts, try Balsamic Molasses Pear Galette, Chocolate Raspberry Tart, Fudgy Chocolate Espresso Bundt Cake, and Oreo Tiramisu for Two.

Why you'll love this apple frangipane tart

• Simple, Buttery Shortcrust Pastry: Shortcrust pastry, or pâte sucrée, is a French sweet pastry that has a buttery, cookie-like texture, making it the perfect vessel for tarts. It's made with a very simple method using just 6 ingredients.
• Melt-In-Your-Mouth Frangipane: This sweet almond cream bakes up into a soft & tender almost cake-like filling. It is a dream paired with your favorite apples!
• Juicy Honeycrsip Apples: Crisp, juicy apples contrasted with the soft almond filling and thin, buttery crust are absolutely irresistible.

Ingredient Notes

• Flour: Use high quality unbleached all-purpose flour for best flavor and overall result.
• Powdered Sugar: Powdered sugar gives the shortcrust pastry a tender, melt-in-your-mouth texture.
• Butter: I highly recommend European-style butter, as it has a higher fat percentage and less water content than American-style butter. I use Kerrygold!
• Eggs: One egg yolk is used in the shortcrust pastry to bind it together, add richness, and give it a tender texture. Similarly, one whole egg + egg yolk is used in the frangipane to give it structure, as well as flavor.
• Extracts: For a pronounced almond flavor in the frangipane, add a couple teaspoons of pure almond extract. The addition of pure vanilla extract is a great way to round out the flavors.
• Apples: I find that the sweetness and firm, yet juicy quality of honeycrisp apples make them perfect for this tart.

See recipe card for full information on ingredients and individual quantities.

Step by Step Instructions

Here are step by step photos and instructions on how to make this apple frangipane tart recipe! For the full ingredient list and method, see the recipe card at the end of this post.

STEP 1: Make the shortcrust pastry. In a medium bowl combine the flour, powdered sugar, and salt. Cut the cold butter into cubes and toss in the flour. Using your fingers, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until pea sized pieces are left. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and milk. Add to the dough, and use a rubber spatula to mix until cohesive dough forms. Shape the dough into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and chill for at least one hour or overnight.

STEP 2: Par-bake the shortcrust pastry. On lightly floured parchment paper, roll the chilled dough out to ⅛” in thickness. Flip the dough over onto a 9” tart pan and coax it to fit up against the sides. Cut the excess dough off, then cover with plastic wrap, and chill for an additional hour. Near the end of the chill time, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Dock the chilled dough with the tines of a fork all over the bottom and sides. Line the dough with aluminum foil, then fill with pie weights, concentrating the weights on the edges to hold up the sides. Place the tart tin on a baking sheet, then bake the shortcrust pastry for about 16-18 minutes or until the edges are lightly golden and the center no longer looks doughy. Set aside to cool completely.

STEP 3: Make the frangipane. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and salt with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes until light & fluffy. Mix in the egg, egg yolk, and extracts until fully combined. Then, add in the flours and mix until fully combined.

STEP 4: Assemble the tart. Using an offset spatula, spread the frangipane into the cooled shortcrust pastry.

STEP 5: Assemble the tart. Arrange the apple slices on top.

STEP 6: Bake, then serve. Bake the tart for about 45-50 minutes until the frangipane has puffed up and no longer looks wet. Allow the tart to cool completely at room temperature in the pan for at least one hour. Remove from the pan, then dust with powdered sugar, and serve.

Expert Baking Tips

• Roll the shortcrust pastry out on top of parchment paper. This is a fairly fragile dough, so for easy transfer, roll the dough out on parchment paper and flip over onto the tart pan. If there are any rips, simply patch it together with some of the extra dough hanging over the sides.
• Par-bake the shortcrust pastry. No one want a soggy bottom! To ensure your tart bakes up with an evenly baked, golden crust, it's baked partially through at a high temperature for 16-18 minutes. Once cool, then the tart is assembled and baked slowly at a low temperature.
• Dust with powdered sugar just before serving. Powdered sugar will melt into the tart as it sits, so be sure to hold off until just before serving to sprinkle it on top.

All of the recipes on this blog are carefully developed with gram measurements so you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success. Volume measurements are extremely inaccurate and leave room for significant errors. Not all measuring cups are made equally, so your one cup of flour will be different from my one cup of flour. By providing precise measurements in grams (aside from minor ingredients, which are given in tsp/tbsp), you can make these recipes accurately and with less cleanup! All you need is this kitchen scale. 

If this still isn't enough to convince you, I have provided volume measurements in the recipe card. If you are interested in understanding the conversions, this is the best conversion chart.

But trust me, once you try baking in grams you'll never turn back!

Happy baking! x