My Grandmother’s Traditional Irish Apple Tart Recipe
The Best Traditional Irish Apple Tart Recipe
I love this traditional Irish apple tart recipe; it’s easy to make, but above all, it’s my Nanny Betty’s Traditional Irish Apple Tart Recipe. This is the epitome of traditional Irish Food for me and is part of our Irish Culture.
As a professional Chef, this recipe brings back so many fond memories of childhood.
This is where I started my journey and love for food. How to make apple tart was one of the first lessons I learned as a child. From there, it opened a whole new road for me.
If you want to learn how to make apple tart like my Grandmother did, then read on and follow this easy apple tart recipe.
For a complete list of all my Irish recipes, click the link to visit my article on Irish Recipes
Irish Apple Tart Recipe
When it comes to traditional Irish apple tart recipes, there’s nothing quite like Nanny Betty’s. This is an easy recipe to follow, and the results are simply delicious. The crust is made with flour, sugar, butter, and eggs, and the filling is made with apples, sugar and butter.
The key to this recipe is the crust. It’s essential to make sure that the crust is nice and flaky. You can do this by using cold butter and ice-cold water.
The butter should be cut into small pieces and added to the flour. You can use a pastry cutter or your hands to combine the butter and flour until it resembles coarse crumbs.
Then, add the ice-cold water and continue to mix until the dough comes together.
Once the dough is formed, you can roll it out on a lightly floured surface. Then, transfer it to a light flour plate for that traditional feel.
Next, add the apples to the crust and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the apples are cooked.
This easy apple tart recipe is perfect for any occasion; it’s both easy and delicious!
If you love to bake, then I have a few fantastic recipes I know you will enjoy:
Traditional Irish Soda Bread Recipe
Irish Buttermilk Scones Recipe
My Apple Tart Recipe Story
Growing up as a child, nothing was better than walking into my Nanny Betty’s kitchen and seeing her standing before her mixing bowl with her sleeves rolled up, peeling beautiful green juicy cooking apples.
I was always amazed at how she would know by sight and feel if there was enough butter, enough flour or if the apple tart recipe needed that extra spoon of sugar.
Nanny Betty’s traditional Irish apple tart recipe was always perfect and a welcome treat for a visiting grandchild on the weekend.
My Nan was pretty serious about apple tarts in general. The apples had to be soft with no solid bits, they had to be sweet but with just a little bit of a sour edge, and the pastry had to be the right thickness.
If the apple tart wasn’t up to her standards, it was pushed to the side, and she would be pretty vocal about her disapproval of the tart, to put it politely.
Years later, while out with my Nan and then-girlfriend but now Wife Laura, we discovered that my Nanny Betty and Laura both had the same opinions regarding apple tarts.
I sat across from them in a cafe as they discussed how a proper Traditional Irish Apple Tart should taste. I always laugh thinking back at that memory because of the look on my Grandfather’s face as my Nan and Laura talked.
He looked at them, then back at me, laughed, and threw his eyes into the air as if to say, not another one.
My Nan, Wife, and family have enjoyed this traditional Irish apple tart recipe for years. I hope you try and enjoy my Nanny Betty’s Traditional Irish Apple Tart recipe and come to love it as I have.
It’s recipes like this that help create some of my childhood’s best memories, and I hope it will help you create some of your own.
I hope you all try this incredible Irish Apple Tart Recipe and enjoy one of my favourite traditional Irish foods.
This post is dedicated to Nanny Betty’s loving memory and my beautiful wife, Laura. The two women in my life have excellent taste in apple tarts but even better taste in men.
Before you go…
If you love traditional Irish recipes, try my Traditional Irish Lamb Stew Recipe which is easy and packed withTraditional Irish Lamb Stew Recipe which is easy and full of flavour.
Read my article on Mother’s Day in Ireland and learn when and why it’s celebrated. Why not treat your mother to a homemade apple tart to tell her you love her.
Or try this fantastic Homemade Vegetable Soup recipe that is quick, easy, and packed with goodness.
Some Equipment I use:
Apple Tart Recipe
This is my Nanny Betty’s Traditional Irish Apple Tart recipe. This shortcrust Irish apple tart is made how my nan and my wife love it. The apples are soft and sweet with just a touch of tartness. Fantastic with fresh whipped cream and a nice cup of tea. Just as my nan and wife love it.
- 225 g Plain White Flour or 2 Cups
- 130 g Irish Butter Unsalted (room temp) or a 1/2 Cup
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 tbsp Caster Sugar
- 45 ml Cold Water or Milk or 3 tbsp
- 4 Large Cooking apples approx 675 g / 1 1/2 lbs
- 75 g Caster Sugar or 6 tbsp
- A little bit of milk to glaze or egg yold mixed with milk
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Sift the flour in to a large mixing bowl along with the salt and caster sugar. With a knife cut the butter into small pieces and add to the flour. My nan would would always hold the block of butter and with a butter knife cut slivers off into the flour.
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Rub the soft butter into the flour to create a breadcrumb like consistency. The key to a light pastry is to rub the butter into the flour while holding your hands above the bowl. This allows the flour to fall keeping air in the mixture and preventing a tough pastry.
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Once the butter is combined add the water or milk and mix with your hand in a claw shape to bring the mixture clings together. Empty the bowl out onto a floured work surface and fold to bring all the mixture together into a smooth pastry.
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Wrap pastry in clingfilm and place in your fridge to rest for approx 20 min. While this is resting you can preheat your oven to 200°C / 400°F / Gas Mark 6 then wash, peel and core your cooking apples then slice them and place in a bowl. You can sprinkle a little lemon juice over them to prevent them browning if you like but don’t put them in a bowl of water. They will just absorb the water and you will loose a lot of flavour.
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Once this is complete you can take your pastry out and divide it into two balls, one slightly bigger than the other. The small pastry ball will be used for the base while the bigger will be used for the top as it will need to cover the mound of sliced cooking apples.
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My nan always used a dinner plate that had deep sides to make her apples tarts so that is what I use. If you like you can use a 23cm/9inch pie plate. Roll out the smaller pastry while keeping the second covered. Roll it to the size of your plate while leaving a little to overlap the edge.
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Take half of your apple slices and layer them around the pastry covering the base. Sprinkle half of your sugar over the layer then add the remaining apples followed by the last of the sugar ensuring that space is left around the edge of the pastry.
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Roll out the bigger ball of pasty to a size slightly bigger than the plate. Take a little bit of water or egg wash and rub it around the edge of the bottom layer of pastry. Transfer the top layer of pastry by rolling it over your rolling pin and folding it out over the apples. Ensure that there is a little bit of pastry hanging over the edge and pull and stretch to fit if needed.
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With a sharp knife, hold the plate up with one hand and with the other hand run the edge of the blade around the plate to cut off the excess pastry. I use to love watching my nan doing this and she always seemed to trim it all in one smooth motion. A little twist of the wrist and the sound of the knife on the plate brings back fond memories.
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Take a fork or the edge of a butter knife and press all around the edge of the pastry to seal. You can be as decorative as you like to create a nice, sealed crust.
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With the remaining pastry you can create little decorations for the apple tarts like leaves. This was always my job when I was a kid and I loved that I could help my nan out.
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Prod the pastry with a fork to allow the steam to release or cut four slits into the pastry near the center.
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Brush the pastry with a little milk or egg yolk mixed with milk to create a golden crust.
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Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until the pastry is nice and golden brown. When cooked the apples should be soft and sweet and the pastry should be fully cooked through and golden.
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The apple tart can be served dusted with a little icing sugar and a nice bit of fresh whipped cream. It is always better with a nice Irish cup of tea just as nanny Betty like. You can’t be that. Enjoy.
Allergins: Gluten
This is my Nanny Betty’s Traditional Irish Apple Tart. My nan and my wife love the apples to be soft with no chunks but if you like you can cut the apples thick to keep a bit of texture to it.
You can also add a little dusting of cloves to the apples to add a little bit of extra flavour if you like.
If you are interested in visiting my home in Cork, read my article on the Best Restaurants in Cork City.
Thank you for sharing your story and your recipe.
Great recipe. I’ve been surprising all the family with these delicious tarts.
Fantastic recipe, it reminds me alot of my grandmother’s apple tarts. It is one of my favorites to make, thank you for sharing.
Great recipe
Hi thank you so much for this recipe!
My partner is Irish and it was nice to bake a proper Irish tart 🙂
I also wanted to thank you for including both F and C in the description. Such a small thing but it makes a difference when you prep.
I will be making my second tart today!
Best!
You are more than welcome. I hope you enjoy the recipe. It gave me many happy memories making it with my Grandmother that I hope you can create some memories of your own.
Youve got the castor sugar thing mixed up..you say to sieve the flour salt and sugar into the bowl then later you say put the sugar over the apples..what sugar?
Hi Charles, if you have a look at the recipe you will there are ingredients for the pastry and ingredients for the filling. You have 2tbsp of caster sugar for the pastry and 6 tbsp of caster sugar to sprinkle over the apples as you layer them up. I hope this helps.
Looks amazing buddy, going to try it soon.
Wonderful recipe, and so easy as well. My Irish husband claims this is the best apple tart ever? and of course with a massive spoon of custard with it?
Thank you for the recipe! I made it for my family tonight as I was craving traditiinal apple tart rather than apple pie, and it was delicious. Very close to the apple tarts I ate as a child in Ireland, (made by my mum and aunt) and it brought back lovely memories. I live in NZ now and don’t ever see ‘cooking apples ‘ in the shops, so had to use granny smiths instead, which aren’t as sharp tasting and don’t hold their shape when cooked. Will be making it again soon 🙂
Thanks for sharing the recipe. The apple tarts are delicious the pastry is gorgeous .I made 4 apple tarts and they didn’t last very long in my house?
What a lovely recipe, made it today, and it tasted fantastic. Thank you for sharing the recipe and memories.