This easy apricot tart combines juicy, sweet-tart apricots with honey, fresh rosemary, and a buttery homemade crust. Wonderfully jammy and full of bright, fruity flavor, it is the kind of dessert that tastes exactly like summer in France.
Apricot tart might just be the perfect summer dessert. Known in France as tarte aux abricots, this classic dessert is light, fruity, and completely different from the rich chocolate cakes and creamy desserts we happily eat during the rest of the year.
It is also unmistakably French: beautiful seasonal fruit, a little butter, just enough sugar, and absolutely no need to make things more complicated than they are.
I make mine with my favorite homemade pâte sablée, a buttery French pie dough that has earned more than a few compliments from friends. Not because it involves some secret pastry-school technique, but because it is delicious and almost suspiciously easy to make.
Speaking of the dough, we need to have a serious conversation.
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Please Make the Homemade Pie Dough
Come on. Take five minutes-seriously, five-and make your own pie dough.
A simple homemade pâte sablée comes together quickly, tastes infinitely better than most store-bought pie crusts, and lets you feel very accomplished with surprisingly little effort.
You do not have to fold it seventeen times, chill it overnight, or sacrifice your entire afternoon to the French pastry gods. Mix, shape, chill, and suddenly you are a person who makes her own French pie dough.
Once you realize how easy it is, you may never want to buy another refrigerated pie crust with an ingredient list longer than this entire recipe. Flour, butter, sugar, egg, almonds, and salt: simple ingredients we can all recognize and pronounce.
You can also make this apricot tart with a good-quality, all-butter puff pastry if you prefer a lighter, extra-flaky crust. Puff pastry gives the tart crisp, delicate layers that are especially delicious against the soft, juicy apricots. Just make sure you choose one made with actual butter rather than a mysterious collection of oils and ingredients requiring a chemistry degree.
That said, life happens. Sometimes you are tired, the children are asking seventeen questions at once, and making pie dough-even for five minutes-feels deeply unreasonable.
In that case, look for a frozen pie crust or puff pastry made with real butter. Please. Trader Joe's generally carries a frozen pie crust with a better ingredient list than many of the refrigerated crusts sold in regular supermarkets. Check the label, choose the simplest one you can find, and continue with your tart without guilt.
Homemade is wonderful. Keeping your sanity is also wonderful.
Avoid the Apricot Drama: Do Not Let Your Tart Drown
Apricot tart can be risky business.
Apricots release juice as they bake. Sometimes a reasonable amount. Sometimes enough to make you wonder whether you baked a tart or accidentally opened a small swimming pool.
The amount of liquid depends largely on the fruit, so choose good-quality apricots that are ripe but still a bit firm. Very soft, overripe apricots may taste lovely, but they are far more likely to release a large amount of juice in the oven.
Fortunately, there are several easy ways to prevent a soggy apricot tart.
The first is to sprinkle a thin layer of the almond flour mixture over the pastry before arranging the apricots. In this recipe, I like to combine the almond flour with brown sugar and a small amount of all-purpose flour. This mixture absorbs some of the fruit juices while adding a subtle almond flavor.
You can also briefly cook the apricot halves, cut-side down, in a pan with a little butter. This encourages them to release some of their liquid before they ever reach the tart.
What to Do If Your Apricot Tart Is Too Juicy
Even after using the almond flour and sugar mixture, your apricots may misbehave and decide to release far more juice than expected. Apricots are unpredictable like that.
Do not panic-and definitely do not remove the tart from the pan just yet. Here is what to do:
- Leave the tart in its pan when you take it out of the oven.
- Carefully tilt the pan over the sink and slowly pour off any obvious excess liquid. Proceed very gently unless you would like all your apricots to slide directly into the sink, which would be a fairly tragic end to this recipe.
- Wait five to ten minutes, then carefully drain it again if more liquid has accumulated.
- Let the tart cool before unmolding it. Some juice will remain, but that is a good thing. As the tart cools, the remaining juices will thicken into a delicious, almost jam-like layer around the apricots.
There are no problems, only solutions-as I frequently tell my children, usually while trying to solve a problem they created.
No Rosemary or Honey? No Emergency
The rosemary and honey are delicious here, but neither one is absolutely necessary.
Fresh rosemary gives the tart a delicate herbal flavor that makes the apricots taste even brighter. Use a light hand, though. We are making dessert, not seasoning a roast chicken.
Lavender is also beautiful with apricots and can be used instead of rosemary. Make sure it is culinary lavender and use only a small amount, since lavender can quickly take a dessert from charming French countryside to expensive soap.
No rosemary and no lavender? Simply leave them out.
If you do not have honey, sprinkle a little more brown or white sugar over the apricots before baking. You can also brush the finished tart with warmed jam.
Apricot jam is the obvious choice, and I am very fond of Bonne Maman, of course. But use whatever jam you already have. Peach, plum, orange marmalade, or even another fruit flavor can work.
My Best Tips for a Beautiful French Apricot Tart
- Choose ripe but firm apricots. They should smell sweet and fragrant and have a little give, but they should not collapse when you pick them up.
- Arrange the apricots tightly. They will shrink slightly while baking, so place them close together and allow them to overlap a little.
- Do not be shy with the sugar. Apricots become noticeably more tart as they cook. Sprinkle the fruit generously with brown or white sugar before placing the tart in the oven.
- Dot the fruit with small pieces of butter. The butter helps the apricots caramelize and gives the juices a richer, more luxurious flavor.
- Use a removable-bottom tart pan when possible. It makes unmolding a juicy fruit tart much easier and gives you cleaner, prettier edges. I use mine constantly, especially when I am serving a tart to guests and would prefer not to present it directly from the pan.
- Let the tart rest before unmolding it. The juices need time to cool and thicken. Removing the tart too quickly makes it much more fragile.
- Brush it with jam for a glossy finish. Warm 2 tablespoons of apricot jam with 1 teaspoon of water in a small saucepan until smooth and fluid. Brush it over the warm tart with a pastry brush. The tart will be even more delicious and beautifully shiny, as though it has been sitting in the window of a French bakery all morning.
How to Serve Apricot Tart
- This apricot tart is lovely slightly warm or at room temperature. It does not need much else, but a spoonful of crème fraîche, softly whipped cream, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream is never a bad idea.
- It is casual enough for a summer afternoon but pretty enough to serve after dinner with friends.
This tart is juicy, buttery, sweet, tangy, and just unusual enough to feel special. Make the dough, pack in as many apricots as possible, drizzle everything with honey, and try not to drop the finished tart into the sink.
For another beautiful French fruit dessert, try my Pear Frangipane Tart next. It has the same elegant-but-secretly-manageable quality that I love in French baking.
You will find the full apricot tart recipe below. Please leave a star rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a comment after trying it-it truly means the world to me and helps other readers discover the recipe too.
Easy Apricot Tart with Honey and Rosemary
Ingredients
For the pâte sablée
- 250 g all-purpose flour, about 2 cups
- 100 g powdered sugar, about ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon (Or 100 g granulated sugar, about ½ cup)
- 3 level tbsp almond flour
- 1 generous pinch of salt
- 125 g unsalted butter, slightly softened at room temperature, about ½ cup + 1 tablespoon (Not melted, not liquid)
- 1 egg
For the tart filling
- 6 tbsp packed brown sugar, divided: 3 tablespoons for the crust and 3 tablespoons for sprinkling over the tart before baking (granulated sugar may be substituted)
- 4 tablespoon almond flour
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1½ pounds (700 g) fresh ripe apricots
- Runny honey, for drizzling
- Butter, cut into small pieces
- Fresh rosemary, optional (culinary lavender may be substituted)
- 2 tablespoon apricot jam, plus 1 teaspoon water, optional, for glazing
Instructions
The pâte sablée
- In a small mixing bowl, mix the flour, almond flour, powdered sugar or granulated sugar, and salt.
- Add the softened butter, not melted or liquid, cut into small pieces. Knead with your fingertips until the mixture has a fine, sandy texture.
- Add the egg and mix quickly by hand. Form a ball as soon as possible. The dough will be very sticky, and that is normal. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. One hour is better. You can also make the dough the day before.
The tart filling
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Butter a 9-inch (22-cm) tart pan.
- Roll out the pâte sablée with a rolling pin on a lightly floured work surface to prevent it from sticking too much. You can also roll it out on a sheet of parchment paper. If the dough is too sticky, form it into a ball again, flour the work surface again, and roll it out once more. Line a buttered tart pan with the dough and prick the crust with a fork.
- In a small bowl, combine 3 tablespoons of the brown sugar, the almond flour, and the all-purpose flour. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the bottom of the pastry.
- Cut the apricots in half and remove the pits. Arrange the apricot halves tightly over the pastry, allowing them to overlap slightly.
- Sprinkle the apricots generously with the remaining brown sugar, or granulated sugar, and scatter small pieces of butter over the top. Drizzle with runny honey and sprinkle with fresh rosemary.
- Bake for 15 minutes at 400°F (200°C). Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (180°C) and bake for another 25 minutes, watching the tart carefully toward the end of the baking time. Let it cool slightly before removing it from the pan.
- If the apricots have released too much liquid, leave the tart in the pan and very carefully tilt it over the sink to pour off the excess. Be careful not to let all the apricots slide into the sink! Wait 5 to 10 minutes and repeat if necessary. Some liquid will remain, but it will thicken into a delicious, jam-like consistency as the tart cools.
- Optional: For a glossy finish, warm 2 tablespoons apricot jam with 1 teaspoon water in a small saucepan until smooth and fluid. Brush the glaze gently over the warm tart with a pastry brush. If the jam contains large pieces of fruit, strain it before brushing.
