Apple and Berry Rustic Tart has a quick prep and can be easily customized with your choice of fruits, spices, and even herbs! A rustic tart is a great way to make a simple but elegant fruit dessert.

What I think of as dessert when it is cold outside are baked fruit desserts. One of the homiest desserts I can think of is a rustic tart. Rustic meaning it’s prepared freehand on a baking sheet and not perfect and proper in a removable bottom tart pan. Almost any time of the year, marvelous fresh fruit is available… and for me, a delicious combination in winter is apples or pears with berries.

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Another wonderful thing about this fruit combination is you have flavoring options. You can go with no spice, a single spice, or even more than one spice. Try cinnamon, coriander, cardamom, nutmeg, or even curry powder!

Landscape image of a rustic fruit tart on a white plate.

Ingredients

You can also use fresh herbs like basil, thyme, or oregano. AND, I always add a little citrus juice and/or zest. I’m a big fan of lemon. It really brightens the flavor of both sweet and savory dishes.

Instructions

Begin making this rustic tart by peeling and chopping the apples. Cutting the apples into small pieces helps the apple to cook quickly and be tender at the same time as the pie crust turns a lovely golden brown.

Then unroll your pie crust pastry onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

A green cutting board with a halved, peeled apple and pieces of chopped apples.

Mix the chopped apples, blackberries, spices, cornstarch, sugar and lemon juice in a large bowl.

Chopped apples and blackberries are in a glass bowl.

Next, mound the fruit into the center of the pie crust and leave a border of at least 2 inches, uncovered with fruit. Fold the crust border up and over the fruit, brush with egg white, and generously sprinkle the crust with sparkling sugar.

Chopped apples and blackberries are mounded in a single pie crust on a baking sheet. The crust edges are folded ofer the fruit and sparkling sugar covers the crust edges..

The apple and berry tart is now ready for the oven and will need to be baked for 40 to 50 minutes. You want the crust to be golden brown and the fruit tender when pierced with a sharp knife.

Square image of a rustic tart filled with apple and berries.

A little egg wash around the edge of this rustic tart brings a nice golden color to the pastry. Hmmm? But, which one to use? Water? Cream? Egg? What part of the egg? Whole? White? Yolk? Let me help you decide with a chart I composed comparing pastry washes.

A chart showing the effect of various washes for baked goods. Finish, color, sealing, shine, and whether the wash adheres seeds, spices, or sugars to a pastry are listed.

I chose to use a simple egg white pastry wash for this tart because egg white will help adhere the sugar to the crust. But it will not add extra browning to the crust. If I were to use a whole egg or egg yolk wash, the pie crust would become too brown before the filling is cooked.

Fruit tart on a plate dusted with powdered sugar with text overlay.

Think about it… a bit of pastry, two fruits, some sweetener, and spices or herbs and you have an incredible personalized treat!

Apple and Berry Rustic Tart

Ingredients

Instructions

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