Julia Child's French Apple Tart Features a Surprising Ingredient You Probably Have In Your Kitchen

I consider myself an experienced home baker, but French pastries are the exception. I’ve made my fair share of chocolate chip cookies and brownies, but never anything as extravagant as a tart or entremet (those fancy layer cakes you see in the windows of French bakeries). Nevertheless, these days I find myself in the mood for dessert that isn’t overly sweet and has a nice freshness to it—a combination that French chefs are famously known for. So, I decided it was high-time to try a classic—a French apple tart.

For my tart debut, I followed the recipe for Tarte aux Pommes in The French Chef Cookbook by Julia Child. She made this tart in season three of her show The French Chef, and you’d be surprised (or maybe not) at how simple and unembellished the dessert really is.

The tart has three delectable components: crust, marmalade and fresh apple slices. My main concern when making pastries is always the crust, since I have a bad habit of not rolling it evenly enough. However, this crust was as simple as can be. Child’s advice stands the test of time: make sure that butter is really cold, and use a pastry cutter to cut it into the flour. No pastry cutter? You can use two knives instead. If you ever feel the butter begin to melt and absorb into the flour, immediately stop what you’re doing and throw your bowl of flour and butter in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes before continuing. (This is also a pro move if you're making pastry dough in a warm kitchen!). The result is a flaky, buttery tart crust that’s simply amazing.

But the real star of the show is the marmalade. In most classic tarte aux pommes recipes, the apple slices sit on top of a layer of almond cream or a luscious eggy custard. Others are even simpler, with apple slices shingled on top of the crust. But the genius of Child’s recipe is that it instructs you to cook down applesauce with a bit of butter and sugar to spread on the partially baked crust before laying down the apples. My first thought after cutting into this tart was, “Wow, I can’t believe that worked.” The marmalade wasn’t watery at all; rather, it was a delicate, but thick filling that intensified the fresh appley flavor of this dish.

It’s also worth mentioning here that as a lifelong home baker and constant consumer of food media (it’s part of my job after all!), I felt a bit pressured to make my first tart look as pretty as possible. But when I watched Julia Child proudly—even haphazardly—pile apple slices onto her tart, I followed her lead and did the same—and felt great doing it.

Last but assuredly not least: Brushing on a glaze of melted apricot jam is a must. Not only does it provide that glistening look that most French pastries feature, but its tart flavor is a perfect foil for the apples’ sweetness. Child said in her show that you add the jam “just to make everything glitter,” but I’m convinced she was treating the apricot jam like the humble ingredient it is. Seriously, don’t hold back! You won’t regret it.

Once the pie had cooled completely, my partner and I were delighted to dig in. The tart was such a light and refreshing dessert. The crust was buttery and crisp. The applesauce was thick and rich with a strong vanilla flavor. The apples still had a bit of bite, as you’d find in an apple crumble. And the jam brought everything together with a “tart” finish (get it?). 

To think… All this time, I had procrastinated on making my first tart. I felt like I needed all the knowledge of a French pastry chef and all the other “right” things. In the end, all I really needed was a little confidence and some applesauce to get the job done.

To access Child’s recipe for Tarte aux Pommes, you’ll have to purchase her cookbook. However, even if you relied on the YouTube tutorial from her show and referenced recipes for the crust and filling like our Butter Pastry Dough and Quick Applesauce, I’m sure you would do a fine job at making your first tart, too.

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