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French Apple Custard Tart

If you like custard, you’ll love this unusual apple custard tart. But don’t just take my word for it, bake my French Apple Custard Tart in your kitchen and I promise you will fall in love with this wonderful dessert

I love apple desserts so much that I have another post of 11 Apple Tarts. Today, I just made one of the recipes and I must say that it is now one of the best apple tarts I have ever had.

 

French Apple Custard Tart

French Apple Custard Tart

1. How Long Do You Cook an Apple Tart For?

Since this recipe requires you pre-cook the sliced apples it only cooks for a total of 55 minutes. This includes baking the puff pastry in advance.

2. What’s the Difference Between Tart and Pie?

I guess there is a serious debate on this subject. But what I gather a pie is usually made with a bottom, sides and top crust. A tart, on the other hand, has shallow sides and mostly the top isn’t covered. You can read more about it on the Telegraph website.

3. What Temperature Do You Cook a Tart?

My recipe calls for the oven temperature to be 325 degrees.

French Apple Custard Tart

French Apple Custard Tart

A couple of summers ago our family took an amazing trip to France and we dined our way through Paris and Provenance.

On our second day in Paris, we just randomly chose a little cafe that served up organic dishes that were pre-made. I must say that I was a little worried about the flavor of the food, but it turned out to be quite delicious!

We splurged and bought an apple custard tart that was was a delightful blend of custard, apples, and crispy flaky croissant crust. And so for the rest of our trip, we kept sampling apple tarts and we were greatly disappointed.

 

French Apple Custard Tart

So, of course, once I was home I was obsessed and I recreated the French apple custard tart that we had in France.

For those who know me, you wouldn’t be surprised that I’m a tiny bit obsessed about various things. You see, I have a little obsessive personality trait that my family finds either annoying or entertaining.

 

French Apple Custard Tart

Luckily for my blog readers, I post things that I have a lot of passion about. And so, I’m crazy about apple desserts since I have a scrumptious Mini Apple Tart Custard Recipe

Ok, this new recipe is similar to my French apple custard tarts but it is made in a cast iron pan as well as the crust is more of a pie crust. You’ll definitely want to make this next.

 

French Apple Custard Tart

So, back to my French apple custard tart story. A couple of summers ago, we took a family trip to Montana and I had a lot of time on my hands… so, I tried a few attempts at creating this apple tart. I finally came up with a version that is really close to the original tart!

 

French Apple Custard Tart

My dessert has a flaky croissant crust and a layer of egg custard followed by cooked apple slices and then finally topped with a rich glaze of apricot jelly and calvados brandy. I hope you enjoy baking and eating it as much as my family does. This dessert doesn’t last too long in our house!

It is best served warm and fresh. But, if eaten the next day, heat in the oven to get the crust to its original flaky texture.

 

French Apple Custard Tart

 

French Apple Custard Tart

This delicious French Apple Custard Tart is similar to the tart we ate while visiting a cafe in Paris France. This recipe is easy since it uses the ready-made puff pastry. 

Crust

  • 1 box Pepperidge Farm puff pastry sheets ((This recipe uses half the box))
  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter

Custard Filling

  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 3 apples Granny Smith (Peel, cored, sliced medium thickness)
  • 1 1/4 cups whipping cream
  • 1 2 inch vanilla bean (Alternative is a teaspoon of Vanilla extract)
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 large egg

Glaze

  • 1/2 cup apricot jelly (If you use jam, make sure to strain it first.)
  • 2 tbsp Calvados (Apple) Brandy (You can use any kind of Brandy)

Crust

  1. Thaw half the box of pastry sheets. Use one sheet and cut in half, but, if you want to make one big tart don’t slice the dough in half.

  2. Cut about a 2 – 1/2 inch wide strip on the long ends of the pastry dough.

  3. Next, cut one 1/2 inch wide strip on the side. These strips of dough will be the sides of your tart. Take both strips and place one on each side of the rectangle of dough. Pinch the edges, so there are no gaps between the dough.

  4. Next, take the side strip of dough and place on the short ends and pinch. You should now have a little rectangular tart (see the photos below for an example). Place your crust on a foil-lined cookie sheet. You can place baking beans in the middle of the pastry so that it won’t rise while baking. I baked mine without the beans and when it comes out of the oven, I just gently punched down the flaky crust. 

  5. Bake until crust is set, about 20 minutes.

  6. Cool until let stand at room temperature.

Custard Filling

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

  2. Peel apple, and core and slice them ( medium width).

  3. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in medium-size saucepan over medium-low heat. 

  4. Add apples and sauce until tender, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer apples to a plate. Increase heat to medium, and add cream. 

  5. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into the cream; add vanilla bean and bring to a boil (you can use 1 tsp vanilla extract instead of the bean.)

  6. In another saucepan, beat 4 egg yolks and sugar. Make sure to gradually add the hot cream mixture into the egg and whisk thoroughly after each addition. Since the egg is raw and the hot mixture will cook the egg, so add the hot mixture very slowly, so you don’t get pieces of cooked egg. 

  7. Stir over low heat until mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon, about 7 minutes; do not boil. Remove from heat; whisk in 1 whole egg.

  8. Pour custard into baked crust. Place apples over custard and arrange in a pattern. Beat one egg in a small bowl and set aside. 

  9. Bake tart in the oven and halfway through baking, brush the crust with the raw egg mixture. Continue baking until custard sets up in the center and slightly puffed around edges, about 35 minutes. Cool Completely. 

Glaze

  1. Mix the jelly and Brandy together in a small saucepan and heat.

  2. After cooking for about 2 minutes, let it cool a bit and then brush apples with the glaze.

I have found that this dessert is best served warm or on the same day that it is made. If you do eat it the next day, warm it up in the oven to crisp up the crust.

French Apple Custard Tart

This dessert will be a hit! So your’s will look like this one. you’ll either make two skinny ones (like the above photo) or one larger one.

If you end up making this recipe, please leave a comment. I would love to hear from you. Make sure to check out my recipe page for more delicious desserts.

Cheers,

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Some of My Favorite Kitchen Tools

Click on photos to view the items

 

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French Apple Custard Tart

 

 

french apple tart pin copy

 

 

Comments

    • Hi PJ,

      Ah, thanks! Yeah, when I was explaining how to form the crust to my husband, he was like, "what?" So, I knew I had to post photos. I'm so glad you are going to try making it. It is exactly like the one we had in Paris, and I'm so happy that I recreated it. It is really best warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream! My husband just loves this dessert and wouldn't share it with anyone else! I hope you like it… :o)

      Cheers,

      Janine

    • Oh, Marie, my recipe is just like the one that we ate in Paris. I’m so happy I figured out how to make it. I hope you have a chance to try it. Have a lovely Autumn and thanks for your visit!

  3. Perfect, thanks for posting 🙂 Now I do have a question about the crust, when you write “Bake until crust is set, about 20 minutes,” what do you mean by ‘is set’, what to look for?

    Reply

    • Hi Maria,
      Yes, basically you are baking the crust. If you look at the seventh photo down after the recipe there is a picture of how your crust should look after baking it for 20 minutes. I pre-bake the crust so that it won’t be soggy once you add the custard and apples. I hope this makes sense. Don’t forget to tap the crust down in the middle since it will puff up in the oven. I probably will edit this old post. Thanks for your comment and visit. I hope you like this recipe.

  5. What could I use instead of the brandy to make the glaze? I need something that is not alcohol. I want to make this for my nieces.

    Reply

    • Hi Andrea,
      I’m so glad you are going to try this recipe. I would just use the jam and it should be fine without the alcohol. I would warm up the jam and then use it as a glaze. I hope this helps!

  9. Janine, first off…you are speaking my love language with a dessert that has 1) apples 2) custard and 3) pastry crust. Thanks for the inspiration.
    Second…I had to laugh…we took our family to France several years back and while in Normandy had them try Calvados…to this day they have never forgiven us! They will die when I tell them what in the glaze!

    Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply

  15. You may want to add to strain the custard through a sieve before pouring it into the crust. Also, I had a lot of custard left over. It turned out great!!!

    Reply

    • Yes, when adding the egg to the hot ingredients it can be tricky. I will add to the recipe that when adding the egg you must whisk the warm custard quickly and add the egg very slowly, so it doesn’t cook. Thanks for your input about the recipe. I’m so glad you liked it!

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