Muffins with Quince and Pecans

When I realized that I still had poached quince in the fridge and that it needed to be used, I went to various cookbooks and then to the index for this blog. It's easy to access the Index...just click on the photo of the table set with a rust tablecloth. It's on the right in the web view of the blog.

In the section with the oldest recipes I found Playful Banana Muffins and, after reading the recipe, I decided that this recipe, which had already had a big makeover, would get another makeover...this time with quince!

This is a lovely muffin. It's moist from the fruit, laced with chopped pecans and small pieces of quince, fragrant with the quince and orange zest and vanilla, and it has a nice crumb. I'm so glad that I made this recipe. It makes a full 12 muffins, plus a small loaf pan's worth of deliciousness. One of these muffins and a cup of tea go really well together.

No quince? You can substitute ripe pear and it will work just fine. Peel and core the pear, making sure to also remove the stem parts. Dice the fruit and make sure you have 2 cups worth. Pears range in size so much that you will probably need about 6. The same is true for the quince...about 5-6 will work. I boiled mine for about 10 minutes to soften the skin, peeled and cored them, then poached at a simmer in water which also had 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cinnamon stick and two whole cloves. Be sure to drain and then chill the poached quince.

I do hope you make these muffins with either quince or pears for a celebration of fall bounty!

Quince Pecan Muffins
Based very loosely on Raisin Bran muffins in the King Arthur Flour Bakers Companion

2 cups poached quince, diced small (about 1/2-inch)
1 cup buttermilk at room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup roughly chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Prepare a 12-cup muffin tin and a mini-loaf pan by spraying with baking spray or by greasing and flouring them. Set aside.

Check the quince for liquid. If necessary, dry with paper towels. Set aside.

In a large mixing owl, whisk together the buttermilk, oil, eggs, brown sugar, molasses, vanilla and orange zest. Add the quince and pecans and stir to combine.

In another bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and oats.

Quickly, with as few strokes as possible, us a large spoon, wooden spoon, or large flexible spatula to mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, just until combined.

Fill prepared muffin cups with the mixture, filling each cup almost to the top. Pour the rest of the batter into the prepared mini-loaf pan, using a spatula to clean the bowl of batter.

Bake in preheated oven for 14-18 minutes for the muffins, or until they spring back when pressed lightly in the middle, and for about 25 minutes for the mini-loaf pan quince bread, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove when ready from the oven. Cool on a wire rack 5 minutes, then turn out of the pans and let cool until ready to serve, or serve at once. If desired, serve with butter, cream cheese, or apricot jam.

Using Fall Fruits and Nuts

 After our recent days of Indian Summer - three days in a row of temperatures in the mid to upper 90s!...we dropped 30 degrees day before yesterday and also had rain...and then more rain yesterday afternoon. Not a downpour, but soaking mist with short runs of medium raindrops. The good news is that it should be enough to keep autumn forest fires at bay for another week or two. The bad news is that it isn't enough to help the water table. The other good news is that it cooled things down enough for baking!

Fall fruits are some of my favorites. Pears are mellow and juicy, the fragrant quince at the foot of the driveway turn from fuzzy to golden and shiny, and the persimmons are just beginning to turn colors on their way to a deep orange. Walnuts and pecans also are harvested in the fall. This year the squirrels and crows have gotten almost all of the walnuts, but I haven't had time to shell them anyway, so that's fine. The walnuts and pecans in this recipe are from Costco. The pears are from in town, carefully ripened in a brown paper bag. I still have some of all of them, so who knows what recipes will show up her in the next little while?

The honey is a very special harvest. It came from the hives of some friends of Sweeties...he went to middle school and high school with one of the friends and they hadn't seen each other in a very long time, but we had a great lunch with them. The honey is full flavored and so delicious! I'm sure that this tart would not have been nearly as wonderful without this special honey.

I started with a recipe from almost the beginning of my blogging time, way back in February of 2007. The recipe for a Nut Mosaic Tart comes from Sunset magazine from 1983. I even got a comment at some point from someone who had lost the recipe and had been delighted to find it again.

As you know if you have been following this blog, I often take a recipe and play with it. This time I took the tart recipe and reduced the nuts but added poached and peeled Bosc pear and poached and peeled pineapple quince. I used a pre-made refrigerated pie crust in the tart pan, tucking the excess into the tart and pushing the doubled sides into the tart pan curves. Then I ran a rolling pin over the top to cut off any excess dough and neaten the top. That's all it took to have a tart shell ready to fill.

The most time-consuming part is poaching, peeling, and chilling the fruit. Be sure to pat off excess liquid with a towel or paper towel before chilling. I didn't do that with the pear and so the pear nearly fell apart plus it made the filling just a bit liquid where the pear was.

The taste of this tart is amazing! All of the elements go so well together. It is fragrant with the quince, honey and orange zest, plus the roasting nuts while baking. I does need to chill a bit before serving, but once you do you will be so glad that you made this delicious Harvest Mosaic Fruit and Nut Tart!

Harvest Mosaic Fruit and Nut Tart
Adapted from a Sunset Magazine recipe from around 1983

1  9-inch tart pan lined with pie dough

1 large Bosc pear, ripe, poached until tender, peeled, cored, tossed with lemon juice and chilled in an airtight container for at least 4 hours. 
2-3 large quince, ripe, poached until tender, peeled, cored, tossed with lemon juice and chilled in an airtight container for at least 4 hours

1 cup walnuts, chopped roughly
1/2 cup pecans, whole
3 eggs
1 cup honey
½ teaspoon grated orange peel
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup butter or margarine, melted
Sweetened whipped cream (optional)

Press pie pastry evenly over the bottom and sides of an 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. 

Arrange slices of poached pear and quince, alternating, with small end in the middle and larger end of each slice toward the side. Set aside.

In a bowl, combine eggs, honey, orange peel, vanilla, and melted butter; beat well until blended. Stir in nuts. Pour over fruit into pastry-lined tart pan. If needed, move the nuts around with a fork to scatter them evenly around and over the fruit. 

Bake on the bottom rack of a 350 degree F oven until the top is golden brown all over, about 40 minutes.

Let cool on a wire rack. Remove pan sides. Offer wedges with whipped cream, if desired. Makes 10-12 servings.

Early Fall Fruitfulness in a Tart

Years and years ago when our son was pre-kindergarten age, he and his friends would roam the hill having fun in simple ways. We had an old telephone van that was beyond repair and became a favorite play area. It was at different times a fort, spaceship, racing car...and site for what Max called 'a feast'. The feast was usually held about this time of year when there were plenty of things they could collect to eat together. One time he showed me a serving: a large grapevine leaf held a half dozen or so ripe blackberries, a couple of walnuts that had been smashed enough with a rock that you could pry out the nut meat, and an apple from the Gravenstein apple tree. A nice snack from the land.

I was thinking about that when I dreamed up today's tart. I had collected a few ripe quince and a large handful of blackberries. I already had some of those early apples in a basket and a round of pastry dough ready. It took a little while, but soon I had the peeled, cored and sliced quince poaching, the dough into a tart pan, lined with parchment and filled with pie weights ready to pre-bake for 10 minutes or so, and the apples peeled and cored and sliced, ready to add to the tart.

Usually I make a frangipane filling with almond meal, but this time I wanted to use walnuts, just like those feasts of long ago. I took half the sugar needed for the frangipane and added it to the walnut pieces in the food processor...yes, you do need a food processor to make this recipe as written, but it will still taste great if you substitute already ground almond meal. A quick run in the food processor, followed by pulsing until it was all finely ground but not paste, and the walnut meal was ready to be added to the frangipane, along with some warm spices like allspice and cloves.

The fun part, aside from eating it, is placing the fruit in a nice pattern. I put drained poached quince slices on the outer edges, then apple slices, then blackberries in the middle and in a few places within the apple slices that had space.

This made a delicious tart, full of the fruits of the land in September here in Northern California. If I were to make it again, I'd add a row of blackberries all around the outer edge of the tart...but I should have remembered that Max loved his blackberries from the time he was a toddler. Their sweet/tart juiciness added a lot to the sweet quince and apples.

Early Fall Fruit Frangipane of Walnuts Tart

makes one 9-inch tart

1 medium quince, peeled, cored, and cut into slices
2 cups water
1/4 cup sugar
1-inch square (roughly) piece of orange zest/peel with no white pith

dough for 1-crust pie crust
parchment circle and pie weights

3 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon orange extract
2 large eggs
1 cup walnut pieces
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
dash ground cloves

1 medium apple (preferably Gravenstein, but any cooking apple OK), peeled, cored, and cut into slices

1/4 cup ripe fresh blackberries

Put the sugar (1/4 cup) in a small saucepan with the water and piece of orange zest. Bring to a boil and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add the prepared quince, stir, return to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook, stirring now and then, for 1 hour. Remove from heat, uncover, and let cool. When cool, drain the fruit over a large bowl or measuring cup. Reserve the liquid for another use (it's great for flavoring iced tea, for instance). Set aside the fruit. If any of the fruit is left over after making the tart, it makes a great addition to muffins, pancakes or waffles. You can poach a larger amount of fruit to make sure you have some for that if you like.

About a half hour before the quince are done, put the rolled out pie dough into the tart pan with removable bottom. fold extra dough down into inside of pan to make a double wall. Press dough into ridges of pan. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes. When frozen for that amount of time, line with parchment and fill parchment with pie weights. Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 10-12 minutes until light golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack. Remove pie weights and parchment. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and the rest of the sugar (1/3 cup) along with the salt and orange extract. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

In a food processor, add the final 1/3 cup sugar and the walnuts. Process for 30 seconds, then pulse until the mixture is light and has only very small pieces of walnut...meal size. Add the allspice and cloves and pulse a couple of times to mix the spices in. Add the walnut mixture to the butter mixture and beat until just combined. Pour mixture into the prepared tart shell and spread to even top.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the prepared fruit, including the apple slices, blackberries, and poached quince slices, in a nice pattern by pushing the fruit into the walnut mixture.

Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until top is golden brown and middle looks set. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack before removing sides. Serve warm or cool. 

Quince Jelly

When we first moved to our rural property over 30 years ago there was a shrub near the old farmhouse (circa 1904) that had fruit on the boughs that looked like pears, but with fuzz on them. In September they started to turn yellow and in late September the fuzz mostly disappeared and they were bright yellow and smelled wonderful, but not like pears. We found out that this was a pineapple quince shrub and that the fruits were hard and not edible until cooked.

One of the easiest things to do with the quince is to make jelly because you don't even need to peel them, just remove the stem and core them, then cut into quarters or chunks. I do give them a good wash before I do that and I remove the flower end, too. Since I don't spray the shrub or fruit with any kind of chemical spray, the fruits also often include evidence of insect infestation, so those parts need to be cut out, too.

This time I cooked a larger quantity than in past times. Turns out that wasn't the smartest thing to do because as I boiled the mixture to bring it up to the correct temperature, the mixture threatened to boil over and eventually did, making a big mess on the stove. I did end up with over 8 pints of jelly instead of 6-7 pints, but next time I plan to go back to the amount in the recipe!

This makes a wonderful jelly that isn't available in most stores. It has a bright ruby color and an almost floral fragrance and taste. If you have access to quinces, do try it. It makes a nice, and unusual, gift, too. Never too early to think about Christmas gifts. This is obviously a seasonal recipe since quince are only ripe in the fall, but if you find some ripe quince, go for it now. You'll be glad you did.

Quince Jelly
3 1/2 lbs of quince, washed, stems removed, cored, quartered (leave skin on)
7 cups water
Enough sugar to add almost a cup of sugar (about 1 cup) for every cup of juice (about 4 -5 cups)

1 Put quince pieces in a large stockpot with a thick bottom and add water (if you are eyeballing it, put in enough water to cover the pieces of quince by about an inch.)

2 Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, until the quince pieces are soft.

3 With a potato masher, mash the quince to the consistency of slightly runny applesauce. Add more water if necessary. If the mash is too thick, you won't get enough juice out of it.

4 To strain the juice from the pulp, place a metal strainer over a pot. Drape 2 layers of cheesecloth over the strainer. (Can skip the cheesecloth if you are using a fine mesh strainer). Ladle the pulp into the cheesecloth. You may need to have two strainers set up this way. Let the pulp strain for 3 to 4 hours. If you aren't getting enough juice out of the pulp, you may need to mix more water into the mash.

5 Measure the amount of juice you have. It should be about 4-5 cups. Pour into a thick bottomed pot on the stove and bring to a boil. Measure out the sugar – about a cup for every cup of juice. Add sugar to the juice.

6 Bring to a boil, initially stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved, so that the sugar does not stick to the bottom of the pan. Insert a candy thermometer to monitor the jelly temperature.

7 As the jelly cooks, skim off the foam that comes to the surface with a spoon

8 As the temperature rises above the boiling point of water (212°F), you will notice the consistency of the jelly/juice begins to change. When the temperature is approximately 8 degrees higher than boiling point at your altitude (anywhere from 220°F to 222°F at sea level) the jelly is ready to pour into jars.

Note that candy thermometers aren't always the most reliable indicators of whether or not a jelly is done. Another way to test is put a half teaspoonful of the jelly on a chilled (in the freezer) plate. Allow the jelly to cool a few seconds, then push it with your fingertip. If it wrinkles up, it's ready.

Canning
9 There are several ways to sterilize your jars for canning. You can run them through a short cycle on your dishwasher. You can place them in a large pot (12 quart) of water on top of a steaming rack (so they don't touch the bottom of the pan), and bring the water to a boil for 10 minutes. Or you can rinse out the jars, dry them, and place them, without lids, in a 200°F oven for 10 minutes.

10 Use a large ladle to pour the jelly into the sterilized jars to 5/8 inch from the top rim of the jar. Use canning jars with canning lids to seal the jelly. Sterilize the lids by letting them sit in just boiled hot water for a few minutes. You will hear a popping noise as a vacuum seal is created as the jars of jelly cool.

(To be safe, we put the jars full of jelly, topped with sterilized lids and bands, into a canning pot, added boiling water to cover, plus an inch, and simmered that for 45 minutes, then let cool. Check the lids for a good seal my noticing if the lids are concave. If not, push down on the center. If the lid stays down, it is sealed. If not, refrigerate and use the jelly within a week. )

Makes 4-6 cups of jelly. We got 6½ 8-oz. jars of jelly.

Fuzzy Quince Cake

Well, the quince are fuzzy, not the cake, but, except for the fuzz, from a distance, you might think quince are pears.

But then you get closer to the golden globes and you see the fuzz and smell the amazing scent that ripe quince has...and you wonder if they taste as great as they smell. Be sure to cook them because raw quince are inedible.

So you make an upside down cake and use lots of peeled, cored, sliced quince for the fruit, with a handful of chopped pecans sprinkled around them at the bottom of a cast iron skillet on top of a butter-brown sugar mixture. Before the cake is finished baking in that pan, the whole house smells amazing! Quince, butter, brown sugar all lend their fragrance.

Finally the cake is turned out onto a large plate, a few quince slices that tried to stay in the pan are returned to the cake and slices are cut and plated. The moment of truth has almost arrived...except with that melted sugar a few moments are needed so we don't burn our mouths.

Bliss! The quince still have some firmness but are sweet and delectable and have almost a floral taste. They go really well with the pecans and the slightly crunchy caramelized brown sugar. The buttery soft cake is the perfect complement to those tastes and textures. And it was easier to make than quince jelly!

This is the season for quince, but they are not easy to find. I'm lucky to have a very old quince tree at the end of the drive. This year there were lots of quince, but I truly didn't have enough time to really make use of them. I suspect that this cake will be it for this year. Quince take a bit more effort to prepare than apples (even though the prepared quince slices look a lot like apple slices) but it was worth it.

I used David Lebovitz's recipe for the upside-down cake and there was the perfect fruit-cake ration as he promised. The only changes I made were I used quince and pecans instead of apricots or plums and berries. I bet they would be outstanding, too. Maybe next time.

Quince Pecan Upside Down Cake
based on a recipe by David Lebovitz 
One 10-inch (25cm) cake, 8-10 servings

David says, "You have some latitude with the fruits that you use. Just make sure that whatever you use covers the bottom in a substantial layer, around double-thickness, since the fruit will cook down while baking and settle nicely into place. Berries" (or nuts) "...are good nestled in the gaps between the slices of fruits."

For the fruit layer:
3 tablespoons butter (45g), salted or unsalted
3/4 cup packed (135g) light brown sugar
fruit: 4  medium quince, peeled, cored and sliced thinly
a handful of pecans, roughly chopped (about 1/2 cup)

For the cake layer:
8 tablespoons (115g) unsalted butter
3/4 cup (150g) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature.
1 1/2 cups (210g) flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, preferably aluminum-free
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (125ml) whole milk, at room temperature

1. Melt the 3 tablespoons (45g) of butter in a cast iron skillet, or cake pan Add the brown sugar and cook while stirring, until the sugar is melted and begins to bubble. Remove from heat and let cool.

2. Once cool, arrange the fruit in a pinwheel design and put the rest over that in a second layer, then scatter the pecans over, letting some settle in the gaps between the quince slices. Set aside.

3. To make the cake, preheat the oven to 350F. (190C)

4. Beat the 8 tablespoons 9115g) of butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Scrape bowl and beaters a few times during this step.

5. Whisk or sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

6. Stir in half of the flour mixture, then the milk, then the remaining dry ingredients. Do not overmix: stir just until the flour is barely incorporated into the batter.

7. Spread the batter over the fruit, then bake for 45 minutes to one hour (depending on the size of the pan, and the thickness of the batter.) The cake is ready when it begins to pull away from the sides of the pan and the center feels just set.

8. Remove from oven, let cool about 20 minutes, then place a cake plate on top, and wearing oven mitts, flip the cake out on to the plate, taking care, as there may be some hot caramel that might escape.

Serving: Upside Down Cake is best served warm, perhaps with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. It can be made in advance, left in the pan, and rewarmed in the cake pan or skillet right before serving. It’s also very good rewarmed in a microwave, and served immediately.

This Could Happen To You, Too

Been bitching and moaning about how much life has been a roller coaster since right after Christmas up until a few weeks ago. BUT the problem is that I know all of that to be true...after all I lived it...but the actual memory of specifics that made it such a roller coaster are scattered like thistle down. This could happen to you (or might have already).

I'd like to think that it is the fast paced life I live that caused this situation, but the truth is probably that my brains is too stuffed to accept any more...and I can't find the delete key. The good news is that I know a lot of the experiences were very positive ones, the bad news is that there were some difficulties and stresses and sad happenings thrown in, too. Driving home from work today I decided to do a mini-journal to tack on the end of posts as a way to keep a little better track of the day to day passing scene.

Before we get to today's mini-journal, it's time to revisit the Sin City Cake. This recipe is based upon one in the book Chocolate Cake by Michele Urvater. This book has bunches of great chocolate cake recipes, plus icings, sauces, decorations...the works! I made a half recipe last November and made a few changes, reflected in the recipe below.

It was so memorable that Dr. Wise requested a full cake as part of the party last Saturday. The reviews were all positive and so I thought it might be good to post it again. This time I made it with some of the quince jelly that I made last fall. There was no poached fruit this time, just cake, jelly, whipped cream, cake, jelly, whipped cream, cake, chocolate ganache. Just! I'm still drooling days later just at the thought of how wonderful it was. The cake was dense and fudgy, but still tender. The jelly brought out the best in the semi-sweet and bitter-sweet chocolate. Whipped cream is always a treat. When you want to impress, make this cake!


Sin City Cake

2 ½ cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon (1 pound) superfine sugar
4 large eggs
8 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
2 cups water or regular coffee

Ganache
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
8 ounces heavy cream

Quince jelly – about 6-8 ounces

1 pint heavy whipping cream, whipped

For the cake:
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour three 9 x 1.5-inch round cake pans, tap out the excess, and line the bottoms with parchment or greased and floured waxed paper circles. (Note from Elle: If you combine some cocoa with the flour for dusting the pans, your cake will have a nice chocolate edge to it.)

Sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt twice, and set it aside.
With an electric mixer on low speed (or with a stationary mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), beat the butter for 1 minute, or until light. Slowly add the sugar, about 2 tablespoons at a time, and when all of it has been added, continue to beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes, scraping down the beaters and sides of the bowl as needed. The mixture will look like fluffy wet sand.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 10 seconds between additions, or until absorbed by the butter. Add the chocolate, scrape down the beaters and sides of the bowl, and beat for 1 minute longer, or until light and smooth.

With a large rubber spatula, fold the sifted ingredients into the batter in four additions, alternating with the water (or coffee) in three additions. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute, or until the mixture looks smooth.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pans, smooth the tops with a rubber or small offset spatula, and rap the pans sharply on the counter to break up any large air bubbles. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out dry.

Remove the cakes from the oven and cool them to room temperature in their pans on a wire rack. Unmold, peel off the paper circles, and frost when the cakes are cool. Serves 16.

For the Ganache
Set the chopped chocolate in a mixing bowl.

Pour on the cream and mix well.

At half power in the microwave, heat the mixture for a minute. Stir well. Repeat until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Let the ganache stand and come to room temperature before using.

Elle’s notes: As usual I didn’t follow the recipe exactly. as it was written. I added the jelly and the whipped cream between each of the layers. The top and sides were covered with ganache. It was so hot in the kitchen on Saturday that the ganache was too thin at first.

So you had cake layer, jelly and whipped cream, cake layer, jelly and whipped cream, cake layer, and ganache. I beat the whipped cream fairly stiff so that it would hold up under the weight of the cake. I piped it on top of the jelly, then spread it out to the edges.

What Goes With Chocolate?

Silly question, isn't it? Many, many flavors go well with chocolate. It was a challenge, however, to find a recipe that combined the haunting, almost floral flavor of quince with the assertive flavor of bittersweet chocolate.

I tried a couple of recipes, including the pan sweet rolls that I posted in November, but the one that seemed to be the best match was bittersweet chocolate and quince jam tartlettes. The jam was not drowned out by the chocolate and the chocolate was enhanced by the quince flavor. The textures were lovely, too; crisp crust, tender and soft filling enhanced by the addition of ground almonds, and sweet, syrupy quince jam between them. If you can't find quince jam, apricot would be good, too.

A typical British sweet is Bakewell Tarts. They usually are not chocolate, but I borrowed some aspects of those little treasures, including putting jam on the bottom of the tart and pouring a batter enriched with ground almonds over the jam. I'm calling the St. George's Bittersweet and Quince Jam Tartlettes because St. George the patron saint of Britian...it seemed fitting. So the recipe is a combination of four or five recipes for Bakewell tarts, plus the addition of chocolate. You can substitute a good pie crust recipe for the ready-made pie dough for an even better tart.

St George’s Dark Chocolate & Quince Jam Tarts

1 package ready-made pie dough circles, at room temperature and unwrapped
4 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperture
4 oz. Scharffen Berger Semi-Sweet chocolate 962% cacao)
1 cup slivered blanched almonds
¼ cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ cup quince jelly
¼ cup slivered blanched almonds

On a lightly floured board, with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll each of the pastry dough rounds slightly thinner to ¼ inch thick. Cut out 4 inch circles and re-roll the scraps to cut more circles until you have 10 circles of pastry. Line ten 3-inch fluted tart tins with the pastry rounds, pushing the pastry into the indentations of the sides. Trim any extra dough at the top of the tins by rolling a rolling pin across the top of each tart tin. Place pastry lined tins on a 11.5 x 17 inch baking sheet that has been lined with foil or a silicone mat. Chill in freezer for 30 minutes.

While tart shells are chilling, cut the unsalted butter stick into cubes and place in microwave safe bowl. Microwave on 30% power for one minute.

While butter is in microwave, chop 4 oz. of Scharffen Berger Semi-Sweet chocolate (62% cacao) finely.
Add to the microwaved butter, stir to blend, then return to microwave and continue cooking one minute at a time at 30% power, stirring after each minute, until butter and chocolate are melted and smooth. Set aside to cool.

After the tart shells have chilled for 30 minutes, line each with a 4 inch baking parchment circle and fill with pie weights (dry beans work well). Blind bake in preheated 350 degree F. oven for 15 minutes, turning the baking pan holding the tart pans 180 degrees after the first 10 minutes for even cooking. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.

While the tart shells are baking and cooling, combine the cup of slivered blanched almonds and ¼ cup granulated sugar. Process in a food processor until the nuts are finely ground. Set aside.

Mix the eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer until beaten, but not frothy, about 1 minute . Add the additional ¼ cup sugar and the ground almond mix. Mix another minute to blend. Set aside.

Once the tart shells are cool enough to handle, remove the pie weights and parchment circles. Stir the quince jelly with a fork to break it down to a spreadable consistency. Spread the bottoms of the tart shells with quince jelly using a total of ½ cup, divided among the tart shells. Set aside.

Into the ground nut, sugar and egg mixture, add the butter-chocolate mixture. Mix well by stirring with a spoon or flexible spatula. When thoroughly mixed, pour into the tart shells, covering the jelly and filling almost to the top. Rap a table knife against the side of each tart pan to break up any large bubbles in the filling. Sprinkle each tart with a about ½ teaspoon of slivered almonds.

Place the baking sheet with the tarts on it into the 350 degree F oven and bake for 15 – 20 minutes, until filling rises slightly and is firm at the edges and nuts are slightly toasted. The center may still be slightly soft.

Cool on rack. Remove tarts from their pans and serve warm, room temperature, or cold.

Serves 10

September's Ripe Fruit

Autumn is my favorite time of year, hands down, and it has been for as long as I can remember. I didn’t even mind that it meant the beginning of school because I like to learn new things. I love fall colors with all of the reds and golds and browns and oranges of the turning leaves. Fall is also harvest time. The apples ripen, the winter squash harden their shells, the tomatoes become almost unbearably sweet and juicy and the pears are in season, too.

The property where I live used to be part of a large farm. Near the old farmhouse, which is over 100 years old, there is an enormous shrub. It grows at least 7 feet high and as much around. The first year we lived here I noticed that the shrub (which is not a tree as far as I know, because it has many, many shoots growing up from the ground, not a central leader) had what looked like fuzzy funny shaped pears growing on the branches in the summer. In late August those fruits had changed to a yellow with green tinges and, eventually they were bright yellow gold and all the fuzz went away. The stem then came easily away from the branch and they smelled heavenly. I knew they weren’t pears, but I didn’t know what they were. I filled a bowl with them, put the bowl on the dining room table, and the perfume kept the room smelling really nice for over a week.

At the fairgrounds in early October that year we went the county Harvest Fair. One of the exhibits of fruits had those strange knobby pear shaped fruits with a name label…now I knew that they were pineapple quince.

Grandpa Merrick moved back to our area a few years later. When he spotted the quince he immediately asked if he could take some when they ripened to make jelly. Since I didn’t know what to do with them, I agreed readily. In exchange I received a couple jars of rosy colored quince jelly. My daughter was his favorite granddaughter, so he gave her a jar just for her. She still remembers how much she liked that jelly.

She will be coming home for a flying visit soon. There just might be a jar of quince jelly waiting for her, a fond collaboration between Grandma Loyce and myself. Neither one of us had made jelly for ages and ages, but today enough of the quinces were ripe enough, we had the time, and I had made sure we had the equipment, so we made jelly. It was fun cooking with her in the kitchen I designed and helped to remodel, in the old farmhouse where she now lives. If Grandpa Merrick were here he would have joined us, I’m sure.

In case you want to make some quince jelly yourself, make sure that the quinces are ripe, with no soft spots. Quinces are not good to eat straight off the shrub because they are quite hard and astringent. You don’t need to add pectin because quinces are loaded with pectin (a natural jelling agent). The version we made allowed you to keep the skins on, but I did cut off any blemishes on the skin, along with the stems and cores. The actual time that you work in the kitchen is only a couple of hours, but the process takes most of the day since the cooked pulp needs to slowly release the juice over 3-4 hours so that you get a nice, clear, rose colored jelly. It tastes somewhat floral, too.

This recipe seems to be a good entry for In The Bag: September which asks us to use a seasonal fruit. This innovative event asks participants to make something using the items that have been designated as being 'in the bag' that month. It is an ongoing event hosted, turn and turn about, by Scott of Real Epicurean (this month), Julia of A Slice of Cherry Pie and Cherry of Cherry’s English Kitchen.

Oh, and another use for quinces (the ones that are overripe or have major soft spots) is to bowl with them, especially if you live at the top a hill as we do, on a country road. In the morning when we walk down to get the paper, we bowl a few quinces down the middle of the road and see which one goes the furthest. Ah, the simple joys of country life, heheheh.

Quince Jelly

3 1/2 lbs of quince, washed, stems removed, cored, quartered (leave skin on)
7 cups water
Enough sugar to add almost a cup of sugar (about 1 cup) for every cup of juice (about 4 -5 cups)

1 Put quince pieces in a large stockpot with a thick bottom and add water (if you are eyeballing it, put in enough water to cover the pieces of quince by about an inch.)

2 Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, until the quince pieces are soft.

3 With a potato masher, mash the quince to the consistency of slightly runny applesauce. Add more water if necessary. If the mash is too thick, you won't get enough juice out of it.

4 To strain the juice from the pulp, place a metal strainer over a pot. Drape 2 layers of cheesecloth over the strainer. (Can skip the cheesecloth if you are using a fine mesh strainer). Ladle the pulp into the cheesecloth. You may need to have two strainers set up this way. Let the pulp strain for 3 to 4 hours. If you aren't getting enough juice out of the pulp, you may need to mix more water into the mash.5 Measure the amount of juice you have. It should be about 4-5 cups. Pour into a thick bottomed pot on the stove and bring to a boil. Measure out the sugar – about a cup for every cup of juice. Add sugar to the juice.6 Bring to a boil, initially stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved, so that the sugar does not stick to the bottom of the pan. Insert a candy thermometer to monitor the jelly temperature.

7 As the jelly cooks, skim off the foam that comes to the surface with a spoon

8 As the temperature rises above the boiling point of water (212°F), you will notice the consistency of the jelly/juice begins to change. When the temperature is approximately 8 degrees higher than boiling point at your altitude (anywhere from 220°F to 222°F at sea level) the jelly is ready to pour into jars.
Note that candy thermometers aren't always the most reliable indicators of whether or not a jelly is done. Another way to test is put a half teaspoonful of the jelly on a chilled (in the freezer) plate. Allow the jelly to cool a few seconds, then push it with your fingertip. If it wrinkles up, it's ready.

Canning
9 There are several ways to sterilize your jars for canning. You can run them through a short cycle on your dishwasher. You can place them in a large pot (12 quart) of water on top of a steaming rack (so they don't touch the bottom of the pan), and bring the water to a boil for 10 minutes. Or you can rinse out the jars, dry them, and place them, without lids, in a 200°F oven for 10 minutes.

10 Use a large ladle to pour the jelly into the sterilized jars to 5/8 inch from the top rim of the jar. Use canning jars with canning lids to seal the jelly. Sterilize the lids by letting them sit in just boiled hot water for a few minutes. You will hear a popping noise as a vacuum seal is created as the jars of jelly cool.

(To be safe, we put the jars full of jelly, topped with sterilized lids and bands, into a canning pot, added boiling water to cover, plus an inch, and simmered that for 45 minutes, then let cool. Check the lids for a good seal my noticing if the lids are concave. If not, push down on the center. If the lid stays down, it is sealed. If not, refrigerate and use the jelly within a week. )

Makes 4-6 cups of jelly. We got 6½ 8-oz. jars of jelly.

Posted by Elise on Sep 28, 2005 on Simply Recipes