One of my favorite fall activities is wandering amongst the apple trees with Mt. Hood in the background and a hot apple cider in hand. There are so many amazing apple orchards in Hood River with beautiful views of the mountain, it’s magical!
We obviously came home with an abundance of apples and the only logical thing to do is to bake a healthy apple treat, am I right? This one was inspired by my momma! When we were kids, my mom would always make these German tarts with whatever fruit was in season. In the fall/winter it was apples or pears and in the summer it was peaches or plums (my fav).
The original dough is a super simple tart dough, but loaded with refined sugar and flour, so I ‘health-ified’ by substituting almond flour and coconut sugar. The texture came out soo good — crispy yet slightly chewy and delightfully nutty!
Pre-bake
Post-bake 🙂
What is a German Apple Tart?
I asked my mom what the German name was for the recipe and she said ‘Apfel Schnitten’. I googled it and a ton of different looking recipes came up. We called it German apple tarts as kids so that’s what I’m calling it! Essentially it’s just a pie-like crush topped with fruit and nuts and baked until golden.
Which apple is best for baking?
I prefer using tart apples like Granny Smith, Empire, or Elstar but a sweeter variety like Honey Crisp works well too. You want to use an apple that is firm and crisp. A lot of it is just personal preference.
How do you make an apple tart?
It’s simple! Just throw together a basic dough, roll it out, top it with seasonal fruit + nuts and bake until golden. It’s the perfect vehicle for vanilla ice cream 🙂
Servings 4 people
Cook Time 30 minutes Ingredients
- 1 cup almond meal
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
- 1 egg yolk
- ¼ tsp vanilla
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 small apple, cored, thinly sliced
- 1 egg, whisked (egg wash)
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp chopped hazelnuts (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325F.
- In a bowl, mix together the almond meal, coconut sugar, coconut oil, egg yolk, vanilla and salt. Use your hands to knead the dough to make sure everything is evenly mixed. Form it into a ball.
- Place the dough on the parchment-lined baking sheet and press into a square shape. Use a rolling pin (or wine bottle!) to roll the dough out until it’s about ¼-inch thick.
- Layer the apples on top of the dough and gently press them down. Use a brush (or a paper towel or napkin) to spread a thin layer of the egg wash on top of the apples (helps them get nice and brown). Sprinkle with cinnamon and top with chopped hazelnuts, if using.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the edges of the dough are deeply golden.
- Serve warmed topped with vanilla ice cream! I also enjoy it for breakfast cold or warm with plain whole milk yogurt on top!
Tips and Tricks for the perfect German Apple Tart
- If you don’t have a rolling pin or wine bottle you can just use your hands to press out the dough, it just won’t be as uniform.
- Don’t press the apples into the dough too hard, just gently so that it makes contact. When it bakes, the apples will stick!
- The egg wash helps the apples to get a little golden, but you can skip this step, it doesn’t change the flavor.
- I used homemade almond meal (just almonds blended in a food processor). You can use store-bought almond meal or the finer almond flour (haven’t tried with almond flour but it should still work).
- I made the recipe to serve 4, but you can easily double it for a crowd!
- Store in the fridge in an airtight container. Reheat in the oven or microwave.
- This will keep in the fridge for 1 week, but I promise it won’t last that long!
