Easy Phyllo Apple Tart
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!
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 cooking. To that end, this recipe yields a crisp and light-tasting apple tart, with very little sugar, that you can make without actually baking! The cat’s out of the bag. This rustic masterpiece is great fun, and no real fuss or expertise is needed.
A free form apple tart full of crunch + flake
RECIPE RECAP:
~ This refreshing alternative to apple pie involves a baking hack of using store bought phyllo dough, a simple layering process, and a short ingredient list. It’s an unusual take on an apple pie that’s crispy and delicious!
~Plan of attack:
1. Defrost phyllo and slice apples. 2. Layer dough sheets with olive oil/butter. 3. top dough with apples and garnish within 30 minutes, then bake for less than an hour.
Ingredient notes and substitutions
- Apples: 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.
- Fat: 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.
- 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.
How to make an easy apple tart
Step 1. Wash and slice the apples thinly. I like to slice them whole, across the core to reveal the pretty star shape in the middle, removing the seeds as I go.
Step 2. After thawing a package of prepared phyllo dough, lay the sheets out in a manner that covers the entirety of the sheet pan you are using (see recipe card for more details).
Steps 3, 4. Lay the sliced apples across the layered dough either freely as shown below or in a more organized pattern or accordian layered rows, it’s up to you, then top with walnuts, cinnamon, sugar and maple syrup to taste. Finally, crimp the phyllo edges up over the apples in a casual way, and brush the folded edge with a bit of leftover butter/oil, then bake.
Serving and storage tips for the apple tart
- Serve hot out of the oven, or at room temperature as dessert, part of a brunch, or a simple breakfast.
- Store at room temperature, loosely covered for up to 3 days. The tart will soften as the phyllo sheets reabsorb the brushed on oil/butter. Reheat slices in oven (or toaster oven) at 300 degrees until warm and crisp again. Do not reheat in microwave, or it will become soggy.
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Easy Phyllo Apple Tart
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Start CookingKitchen 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)
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350. The rack should be in the center of the oven.
- Open one pack of the 1 package 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 3 tbsp unsalted butter and 3 tbsp olive 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 4-6 ea 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 6 layers of the dough sheets, using it all up and spreading 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"(see photo).
- 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 the 1 tbsp maple syrup over the surface as well. You could also sprinkle some of the 1 tbsp white 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 1/2-1 cup walnuts over the apples if you like, as well as the 1 tsp cinnamon, a small sprinkle of 1 tsp salt (always a nice addition), and if you like, another drizzle of the maple syrup and/or a sprinkle of the 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.
I used your recipe as a guide and brushed my filo with apricot jam before the sliced apples
What a great idea, to brush the filo with jam, I’ll have to try that!
Can’t wait to try this for our holiday breakfast! I used to make apple strudel, when the kids were home. This recipe looks like a really nice alternative. Do you think that using raisins instead of or in addition to the walnuts would work well?
That sounds fantastic Toby! Thanks for trying this recipe, and do let me know how you like it! For sure you can sub or add in raisins for some added sweetness and chewiness. Great idea.
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!