I don’t know aboutyou, but when I hear the word quince, I only think about two things: jam or traditional greek spoon sweets. This relative of apple, also called the golden apple, is rich in antioxidant and anti-cancer catechins and polyphenols, vitamin C and copper. It also has anti-allergic and anti-inflammatory properties making it a good food for those suffering from allergies. Although we have it in abundance in Greece, it’s one of the fruits I rarely use because it’s not eaten raw and I don’t know what to combine it with. My aunt brought me quinces from her garden during Christmas and to thank her I wanted to make something sweet with of them. Since it’s like apples, I thought that it would be very nice to turn them into an apple crumble, which is one of my favourite desserts. This is anEnglish-style apple pie where you spread a layer of flour, sugar and butter over the apples. The quince boils in Christmas spices while I added aronia berries instead of raisins, as they are a nutritional dynamite -I’m not talking more about aronia, as a detailed post will follow. You can make the compost the day before and keep it in the refrigerator. With all these spices, the taste of compost is particularly warm and aromatic, making this pie the ultimate winter dessert. Once you take it out of the oven, you can add a scoop of cream on it if you fancy . I prepared this dessert for new years eve and it was a success. if f you want, you can add puff pastry as a base, though the original recipe only needs a fruit layer and the crumble on top, and is served in a bowl with a spoon.
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Ingredients (for a large pan, about 12 pieces).
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For the layer of the quince compost
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– 6 quinces, peeled, cut into cubes
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– 1 tsp cinnamon
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– 1 tsp ginger powder
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– 1 tsp cloves
– 2 handfuls of aronia berries
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– 2 spoons honey
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– About 1.5 litres of water
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For the zest:
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– 1 handful of walnuts, finelychopped
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300 grams of oats whipped in themulti-processor or in the food processor until flour is made
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– 100 gr of coconut sugar
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– 1 tsp cinnamon
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– 1 tsp ginger powder
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– 4 spoons of room temperaturecoconut oil
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For the base (if desired)
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– 1 puff pastry
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Preparation
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– Boil the quinces in a pot ofwater that is filled enough to cover all of them. Add spices, aronia and honeyuntil the quinces are completely softened, boiled for about 30-40 minutes. Thecompote is kept in the fridge for a few days.
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– Apply the puff pastry (if used)to an oiled tray or pan. Lay the quince layer on the puff pastry or on the pan.
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– Grate the oats to make flour andmix cinnamon, ginger, crushed nuts and coconut sugar in a large bowl.
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– Smash the coconut oil in smaller pieces with a fork, and then add it to the bowl with the rest of the ingredients, stirring and pressing with your hands to create pellets from the dried materials and the coconut oil (don’t worry if the pellets are too large,they will melt in high temperature).
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– Spread the layer over the quinces.
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– Bake in the oven for about 15minutes at 180 degrees Celsius until the top layer begins to turn brown.