If you love apple pies and tarts but lack the time or confidence to tackle an actual baking project, this easy phyllo apple tart is the dessert (or breakfast or brunch) recipe for you!
Filo? Phyllo? What is it?
If you are not familiar with Filo (a.k.a. Phyllo) dough, it is found premade in the frozen section of your grocer, and I don’t know of anyone who endeavors to make it homemade. It is extremely delicate and thin, and the package contains many many sheets of the dough, amazingly, not separated by anything. The brand I buy has two packs, one usually is needed for a recipe (each pack is many layers, rolled up, encased in plastic).
As a result, it’s a flexible dough to keep on hand for different recipes, as it defrosts on the counter in an hour, or the fridge overnight and can be kept in the fridge for a few days, but otherwise is to be kept in the freezer in between uses. For example, I left mine on the counter for an hour and then put it in the fridge overnight because I changed my mind about when to make this Phyllo Apple Tart and the dough performed perfectly.
Apples to use for this phyllo tart:
If you’ve been wandering around any of your local farmer’s markets, food coops, or apple orchards lately, you may have come across a variety of apples as I have. Recently I was inspired by heirloom apple varieties and had to try them out. In this tart, I used 5 apples and each one was a different variety. Even though they each tasted wildly different and some were more crisp than others, they tasted great in this tart.
Why this apple tart?
Truth be told, I’m here to share my improvisational, yet informed and thoughtful approach to cooking, not baking. To quote Airbnb’s founder, Brian Chesky, “Drawing is like baking and painting is like cooking”. I think what he means is that baking is precise and cooking is not, which is why I prefer (and am more successful, to be honest) cooking. But today, I’m sharing a lovely crisp and light-tasting apple tart, with very little sweetener involved, that you can make without actually baking! The cat’s out of the bag. If you find a real baking recipe on here, you know I’ve worked hard to make it successful :). This rustic masterpiece, however, is great fun, and no real fuss or expertise is needed.
A bit about the butter/olive oil:
You can use butter, vegan butter, olive oil, or a combination of any of these. While I enjoyed the butter flavor that came through from using a combination of olive oil and butter, I’ve made other dishes using just olive oil between the layers. Filo dough is very low-fat, with a small amount of oil added to the dough, so the fat in between the layers is pretty important for flavor and to get the crispiness, but you don’t and shouldn’t slather it on, rather, work gingerly to lightly distribute the fat.
A bit about the spices
This is a great way for you to customize this tart. If you are a purist, you can leave all spices off the tart. If you love cardamon or even a Chinese 5-spice blend, use that. Try Chai spices if you like, or simply cinnamon. You chose the spice journey for this deliciously crispy tart.
This tart makes a great dessert, snack, a great breakfast, or brunch treat. Top it with Greek yogurt and more apples for a healthy protein kick, or top it with ice cream to go all in on dessert. Enjoy!
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Easy Phyllo Apple Tart
Kitchen Tools
- 1 baking sheet
Ingredients
- 1 package defrosted filo dough (usually 2 per box)
- 4-6 ea apples (size dependent-I used 5 small-medium)
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2-1 cup walnuts (optional)
- 1 tbsp white sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon (or allspice or any other spice(s) you like with apples)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 350. The rack should be in the center of the oven. A pastry brush is recommended as shown below.
- Open one pack of the defrosted filo dough from the box, unroll it (you will be unrolling multiple layers), and place a damp cloth over all of the layers.
- Melt the butter and oil together (I microwaved it in a small bowl for 20-30 seconds). Note: start with 3 tbsp of each, but know that depending on your pastry brush and how you use it, you may or may not need a bit more to finish the project.
- Slice your apples however, you like, but slice them, don't quarter or chunk them. I love to slice them across, versus along the core, for the "star" shape in the middle 🙂
- Lay your first layer of dough down. Ultimately you will lay a total of 4-6 layers of the dough sheets, spreading butter/oil on each layer, before you lay the next. How you decide to lay the initial layer (and subsequent layers) will depend on the pan/dough size. For example, my dough sheets were pretty small (about 8"x 13") and my sheet pan was large (13" x 18"), so I laid three sheets across the 18" length of the pan, overlapping them 1-2". It doesn't matter how you lay them out, just figure out what size pan you want, and lay the sheets in a way that fits.
- Begin the layering process. In between each layer, you will brush the dough gingerly with the butter/oil mixture. In an effort to keep this dessert light and avoid any greasiness, please take care with this process. Specifically. I brushed along the 4 edges, and then across the dough every couple of inches. Do not cover the entire surface with the fat mixture. I experimented with drizzling a bit of maple syrup over the surface as well. You could also sprinkle sugar, or you don't have to add any sweetener at all.
- Now that the dough is all layered onto the pan, you can lay the apples across the dough. Leave about 1" of the dough uncovered, around the edges so that you can fold the edges in at the end.
- Sprinkle roughly chopped walnuts over the apples if you like, as well as any of the suggested spices, a small sprinkle of salt (always a nice addition), and if you like, a drizzle of maple syrup and/or a sprinkle of white sugar. The sweeter you like things, the more you should use them. (I went very lightly w/the sweeteners, both between the dough layers and over the top, and felt the tart had the perfect level of sweetness, which is to say, not very sweet. The apples are the star here).
- Fold up the edges of the tart, making your way around the tart. It's a casual process. Brush a tad more fat over the folded edges for the perfect crispy finish!
- Your masterpiece is ready for baking. Place in oven and bake for approximately 40 min. or until nicely browned. I used a pizza cutter to cut into squares. You don't have to wait until it cools. Store at room temp, loosely covered. If you reheat it, don't use the microwave. It will just get soggy/chewy.
Creating a sheet pan recipe for this apple tart using phyllo dough was so much fun and such an easy way to create a tart without worries for how it will come out! I love it and know you will too!