Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Medieval Quince "Pie"

Recipe Source: Welserin, Sabina.  Das Kuchbuch der Sabina Welserin.  Germany, 16th Century.  Find the original here.

So you already know that I've been playing with quinces a lot lately.  I truly love them, and I get a bushel of them in the fall and just go to town.  I try to find new and different uses for them, although my quince and rosemary jelly is a perennial favorite with my friends.  I love quinces in savory recipes.  In my head they're mostly a Greek or Middle Eastern fruit, although I'm not sure why I should think that.  They certainly grow in cooler climates such as New England.  I decided to force myself to move outside my usual sources and find a non-Middle Eastern recipe calling for quince.  I also wanted to make a medieval recipe for one of our Sunday dinners, so this one seemed to make sense.  After all, I thought, I've made other recipes from this cookbook and I've been delighted with the results.

I was differently enthusiastic about this one, and by "differently enthusiastic" I mean "frustrated and angered by."  I used my traditional family crust but in a whole-wheat version - I'd made several ahead of time for some other reason, so I had them just sitting in the fridge waiting to be used up.  Otherwise I just kind of went to town.  Unfortunately the crust failed miserably.  I did wind up serving it, but scooped onto plates and treated like poached fruit.  I think that the liquid in the filling was just too much for the poor little crust to handle.

My guests loved this.  If I stopped trying to think of it as a pie I loved it too.

Medieval Quince "Pie" (serves 8; approx. cost per serving not available)

1 single-crust pie crust - store bought is fine

4 nice quinces, peeled, halved and cored

1/2 cup currants

1/4 cup raw sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Beef fat - however much you can get, rendered from a package of beef bacon should be sufficient

1/2 cup dessert wine

1/2 cup raw sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Equipment:

• Pie plate
• Bowl
• Large deep skillet

1. Preheat your oven to 425°.
2. Render out your beef fat to the best of your ability.
3. Fry the quince halves in the fat until they are fragrant.
4. Line your pie plate with your pie crust.
5. Arrange your quince halves in the pie plate.
6. Combine the currants, first 1/4 cup raw sugar, first 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves.  Stuff the quince cavities with this mixture.
7. In the skillet, combine the remaining ingredients.  Cook until the sugar is dissolved, then add to the pie plate.
8. Bake until the quinces are tender, about 40 minutes.
9. Serve.

Recipe: Pickled Quinces

Recipe Source: Malouf, Greg and Lucy.  Artichoke to Za'atar.  University of California Press, Berkeley, 2008 p. 249

I love quinces.  I've had the good fortune for the past couple of years to get a full bushel at a very reasonable price, which has been a lot of fun for me.  The thing is, though, while I love quinces most quince recipes wind up being extremely sweet.  Even if I were not desperate to lose weight I'd have a hard time with that.  My system has never processed sugar well.  I've made a real effort to find savory recipes for quinces so that I can enjoy one of my favorite flavors without the side effects.  The problem is preservation.  It's easy to find recipes that will make sweet preserves, but those won't do in savory recipes.  When I found this recipe - essentially pickled quinces - I decided to give it a try.

I couldn't publish my results until recently for the simple reason that I didn't know how they'd turned out.  They needed to sit in a "dark place" for about four weeks before they were ready.  I'm reasonably certain that this means a pantry or cabinet, not a mental state of existential anguish.  I don't think quinces experience existential anguish.  I could be wrong.  Anyway, I've used these quinces in two other recipes now and if I want to write them up I need to write this one up, so here goes.  I will warn you that my notes from that day are long since lost, a sad consequence of constant entertaining between then and now, so you're dependent on my memory here.  That's okay.  You don't mind so much, do you?  I certainly increased the quantity.  I know I had to use powdered spices instead of whole spices for some of them, and I'm fairly certain that there was more cardamom and less allspice than originally called for.  Ultimately I'm pretty happy with this recipe, and I'm looking forward to enjoying savory quince dishes for the rest of the year.

Pickled Quinces (makes 6 pint-size jars; approx. $1.17/jar)

12 quinces, peeled, cored and cut into 8 pieces each

3 cups cider vinegar

6 cups water

18 tablespoons honey - a milder honey is better here

3 teaspoons black peppercorns

3 teaspoons ground coriander

2 tablespoons ground cardamom

1 teaspoon ground allspice

2 teaspoons whole cloves

3 cinnamon sticks

6 bay leaves

Equipment:

• Home canning equipment, sterilized
• Large bowl
• Large saucepan

1. Prepare your equipment for canning.  Get your jars and your water bath up to 180 degrees.
2. As you prepare your quinces drop them into a bowl of acidulated water so they do not discolor.
3. When you have finished prepping your quinces, put them into the large saucepan.  Cover with the liquids, honey and spices.
4. Bring to a boil.  Stir gently to dissolve the honey, but don't be to vigorous or the quinces will disintegrate.
5. Reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes or until the quinces are tender.  Don't overcook them or they will disintegrate.
6. Carefully put quince pieces into the sterilized jars.  Ladle the poaching liquor over them.
7. Process 25 minutes in a boiling-water canner.
8. Let them cool, then label and store them.
9. Store at least 4 weeks before using.

Recipe: Quince Stew

Recipe Source: Saberi, Helen.  Afghan Food & Cookery.  Hippocrene Books, New York, 2000 p. 182

You already know that I'm obsessed with quinces.  I'm especially happy to find quince recipes that are savory.  I love quinces, but sugar does not love me.  I was exceptionally excited therefore to make this recipe.  I've loved just about everything I've made from this cookbook and this was QUINCE!  Unfortunately, this dish did not turn out to be the joyful wonder I wanted.  It wasn't bad, don't get me wrong.  It just wasn't very exciting at all.  I substituted rabbit for the lamb because the store I went to that week didn't have the right cuts of lamb.  I don't think that this was the problem.  I love rabbit, so it shouldn't have had a negative effect on the dish.  I used more quinces than called for in the recipe.  The quinces I got this year have been flavorful and delicious, so I don't think that was the problem.  I reduced the amount of sugar to accommodate my stunted sweet tooth, and while honey is strongly flavored it is not more strongly flavored than molasses, which the original required.  I used more ginger than the original required, and maybe a little more spice.  That wasn't the problem either.

The problem was that none of the flavors stood out.  I love the flavor of quince, but this could have been apple or even banana for all the quince flavor the final product had.  I love the flavor of rabbit, but this could have been chicken or tofu for all the rabbit flavor I got.  I couldn't tell that there was ginger in this at all, regardless of what the proportions were.  Even the honey flavor was muted and indistinguishable.  So sad!

I'm not sure why this dish turned out so bland, but it was certainly nourishing and filling.  Maybe I was coming down with a cold or something so my taste buds were asleep.  I don't know.  Try it for yourself and let me know how it comes out.

Quince Stew (serves 4; approx. $6.45/serving)

5 quinces, peeled and chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 red onions, finely chopped

2 regular onions, finely chopped

1 rabbit on the bone, cut up

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/4 cup honey

Kosher salt to taste

Equipment:

• Large saucepan

1. Heat the oil in the saucepan.
2. Add the onion with kosher salt to taste.  Fry until golden brown.
3. Add the meat.  Fry until brown.
4. Add the quince.  Cook for about a minute.
5. Add the spices.  Cook for about a minute.
6. Add water to just cover the meat and quinces along with the honey.
7. Cook gently until the meat is tender and the quinces soft, about an hour.

Recipe: Quince Omelet

Recipe Source: Batmanglij, Najmieh.  Silk Road Cooking.  Mage Publishers, Washington DC, 2004 p. 125

I love quinces.  I love the way they smell, and the way that my refrigerator smells when it is full of quinces.  They aren't the prettiest of fruits when raw, but when cooked they make the prettiest syrups and jams and jellies and whatever.  They are generally sour, however, so most quince recipes rely pretty heavily upon large quantities of sugar.  Now, I personally don't have much of a sweet tooth and frankly at my size I don't need even more empty calories.  I've therefore been trying to find some tasty savory recipes for quince, and in order to do that I've needed to look east.  (This is not difficult.)  When my in-laws joined us for dinner the night before Thanksgiving I wanted to serve them something a little unusual but still decent.  They specifically requested something "light."  It seemed like the perfect opportunity to make this tasty treat, which is more like a frittata than an omelet if you ask me.  (And you did.)

I made a few changes to the original as you might well expect.  I substituted a parsnip for the carrot because I loathe carrots.  I hadn't any raisins OR dates, so I substituted dried barberries.  I also lacked pistachios, so I increased the quantity of almonds.  I added some garlic.  My notes strongly suggest that I added some cayenne pepper and cumin.  The result was actually very well received!  My in-laws enjoyed the dish and my husband also took great delight in it despite the presence of eggs.  It would probably be just about as good cold as warm - I reheated it, having made it the day before.

Quince Omelet (serves 4; approx. $1.12/serving)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound quinces, cored and thinly sliced

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 onion, thinly sliced

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 parsnip, peeled and thinly sliced

1/2 cup dried barberries, plumped

1 ounce almonds, chopped and toasted

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Equipment:

• Large skillet

1. Heat the oil in the skillet over medium heat.
2. Add the quince, lime juice and onion.  Cook 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the parsnip, barberries and nuts.  Cook about 1 minute, stirring.
4. Spread the mixture evenly in the skillet.  Cook until the juices have evaporate.
5. Add the eggs and spices.  Stir, cover and cook over low heat until the eggs have set.
6. Serve.

Recipe: Quince and Almond Cream Tart

Recipe Source: Ferber, Christine.  Mes Tartes.  Michigan State University Press, East Lansing, 2003 pp. 27 - 8 and 175 - 6

So the Sunday after Thanksgiving we still held our usual Sunday open house.  On the one hand this seems like a poor idea.  We'd just hosted the family for the holiday, the house (and especially the kitchen) was in a shambles and my back, knees and feet were loudly insisting that more cooking was simply not going to happen.  On the other hand, I was actually pretty excited.  I wanted to make one particular recipe: this one.  We've been trying to avoid using nuts since Fearless Baby started eating solid food.  She's not necessarily allergic, but they tell me that a tendency toward food allergies runs in families.  Since I have not one, not two but three food allergies, the doctors want us to avoid exposing her to common allergens like tree nuts until she's at least two.  The thing is, I love almonds.  They're one of my favorite flavors.  Heck, almond is one of my favorite scents.  Using almond-scented moisturizers always makes me feel good.  Anyway, we were expecting quite a crowd for this edition of Sunday dinner so I figured I'd use it as an opportunity to purge this almond craving.

We got a good sized crowd for the open house, but not everyone stayed for dinner.  Even if they had I think three pies may have been a little much.  I sent lots and lots home with people who at least pretended to be happy to take it, and I actually kept some for myself which is unusual because I try not to keep non-chocolate desserts around.

I did make a few changes.  I used a whole-wheat version of my family's traditional pie crust instead of the "rich flaky pastry with praline paste and hazelnuts" called for in the original.  I did this because a) the ingredients for the recommended crust were prohibitively expensive and prohibitively rare and b) because the family recipe is a known evil.  I've figured out how to make this pastry work, relatively consistently, in a way that suits my needs.  When I'm cooking for a crowd that's paramount.  I tripled the recipe.  I omitted the spices because I just plain forgot about them.  Instead of creme fraiche I used a rosewater whipped cream left over from the garnish for the Thanksgiving dessert and I added a little more rosewater to the filling.

Quince and Almond Cream Tarts (serves 24; approx. $0.64/serving)

3 single-crust pie crusts - I used a family recipe as noted above, but you can use whatever works for you.  Even store bought is probably fine.

12 quinces, washed, peeled and quartered

Zest of 3 lemons, slivered

Zest of 3 oranges, slivered

3 1/2 cups raw sugar

3 cups water

10 1/2 tablespoons rosewater-flavored whipped cream

4 sticks plus 1 tablespoon salted butter, melted

3 cups confectioners' sugar

4 cups toasted almonds, finely ground

180 grams whole wheat flour

5 extra-large eggs

2 tablespoons rosewater

Equipment:

• Large saucepan
• Skimmer
• 3 tart pans
• Large mixing bowl

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine the raw sugar and water in the saucepan.  Stir until the sugar is all dissolved.
3. Add the quince quarters.  Simmer until soft, stirring periodically.  Be careful not to splash simmering syrup onto your skin.  It hurts.
4. When the quinces are soft, use the skimmer to evacuate them to a plate and set aside.  Add the citrus zests and simmer five minutes.
5. Meanwhile, make the almond cream.  Combine the melted butter and confectioners' sugar in the mixing bowl.  Stir until the mixture is smooth and all the butter has been incorporated.
6. Add the eggs and stir until thoroughly incorporated.
7. Add the almonds, flour and rosewater.  Mix until smooth.
8. Add the whipped cream and the citrus zests to the bowl.  Mix well.
9. Line the tart pans with your pastry.
10. Pour a layer of the cream into the bottom of each tart.
11. Arrange the quinces on top of the tart.  There should be about 12 quarters per tart.  If you're counting on the picture yes, I know I lost track.
12. Bake about 45 minutes.
13. Serve.

Recipe: Quince Granita

Recipe Source: Batmanglij, Najmieh.  Silk Road Cooking.  Mage Publishers, Washington DC, 2004 p. 267

My in-laws came for a visit over the Thanksgiving holiday.  Of course, they live at some distance from us and therefore stayed a few nights at a nearby hotel.  They were extremely helpful in minding the Fearless Baby while I was preparing for Thanksgiving.  Naturally, they needed something to eat while they were here.  I needed to clear some fridge space, since half my fridge is taken up by quinces at this point.  My in-laws are very abstemious eaters and specifically requested that I serve something extremely light the night before Thanksgiving.  They also believe that eating fruit after a meal aids digestion and prevents the phenomenon known as "food coma."  I figured that I might as well have some fun and use some of my quinces.

As it turns out quinces have a special place in my father-in-law's heart.  He grew up in rural Greece and likes to tell stories about quince orchards stretching as far as the eye could see, where you could just reach out and grab them at will.  (If the owner of said orchard is reading this, I'm pretty sure that the statute of limitations has long since run out.)  I was happy to be able to bring back a few of those memories for him.

I made a few changes to the recipe, as well you might expect.  I used more quinces than originally called for.  Squeezing the quinces as instructed in the recipe did not yield enough juice for the recipe.  Fortunately I had anticipated this and reserved the water in which the quinces were cooked.  I added a little cardamom to the recipe and I replaced the rosewater with orange flower water.  I'm a huge fan of rosewater personally, but I know that not everyone shares my passion.  Orange flower water seems to be perceived as less cloying.  The results were a big hit.  Everyone seems to have enjoyed the granita, which was a refreshing way to end a meal.

Quince Granita (serves 6 generously; approx. $1.54/serving)

2 pounds quinces, washed, cored and sliced

6 cups water

2 tablespoons lime juice

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise and scraped

1/2 cup raw sugar

1 tablespoon orage flower water

Equipment:

• Ice cream maker
• Fine strainer
• Saucepan
• Container with lid
• Cheesecloth
• Colander
• Bowl

1. Tie the quince slices up in the cheesecloth and put them in the saucepan.
2. Add six cups water.  Bring to a boil.
3. Cover, reduce heat and cook 1 hour.
4. Drain the pot, reserving the cooking liquid.
5. Set the colander over the bowl.  Put the quinces in their cheesecloth into the colander and allow them to drip into the bowl until they are cool enough to handle.
6. When they are cool enough to handle, squeeze the bundle with your hands to extract as much juice as possible.  Ultimately you want to end up with 4 cups of juice.  If you cannot get 4 cups of juice out of your quinces, top it off with the reserved cooking liquid.
7. Return the juice to the pan.  Add the vanilla, cardamom and lime juice along with the sugar.
8. Heat gently and stir constantly until the sugar is completely dissolved.
9. Transfer to a container with a lid.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.
10. When you are ready to finish the granita, strain the contents of the container into the bowl of your ice-cream maker.  Add the orange flower water.
11. Churn according to the manufacturer's instructions - mine was 25 minutes.
12. Transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze until ready to eat.

Recipe: Turkey Meatballs in Quince-Rosewater Syrup

Recipe Source (partial): Mallos, Tess.  The Food of Morocco.  Murdoch Books, Millers Point, 2008 p. 104

So none of my recent recipes have satisfied my meatball craving.  I don't know why that should be, but whatever.  I'll just have to keep playing until I find what I'm looking for, or possibly just enjoy eating more meatballs.  I wanted a meatball dish that I could enjoy during the week.  I also wanted something with quinces.  You may recall that not too long ago I posted a recipe for quinces in a rosewater syrup.  That was in preparation for this recipe.  I figured I might as well combine the two and see what I came up with, and I'm very glad that I did.  You see, the turkey meatballs matched beautifully with the quince sauce, just beautifully.  Neither my husband nor I could get enough.  This dish was great.  It also reheated easily and well with the addition of about half a cup of water.

Turkey Meatballs in Quince-Rosewater Syrup (serves 4; approx. $1.36/serving)

1 pound ground turkey

1 egg

1 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, sliced

1 cup water

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 serving (aout 1/2 cup?) Quinces in Rosewater Syrup.  Make sure you get some of that syrup!

Equipment:

• Mixing bowl
• Mini-prep mini food processor
• Large saute pan

1. Combine the turkey, egg, breadcrumbs, cardamom, salt and pepper in the mixing bowl.  Knead well to mix thoroughly.  Form into meatballs the approximate size of walnuts and set aside.
2. Combine the quinces with the onion and lemon juice in the mini-prep.  Puree.
3. Heat the oil in the saute pan.
4. Add the meatballs and brown on all sides.
5. Add the quince puree and the water.  Bring to a boil.
6. Reduce heat and simmer until the meatballs are thoroughly cooked.
7. Eat.  Complain that there are not more.

Recipe: Quinces in Rosewater Syrup

Recipe Source: Mallos, Tess.  The Food of Morocco.  Murdoch Books, Millers Point, 2008 p. 232

It's that time of year again.  I have managed to acquire another bushel of quinces at a very reasonable cost so it is now time to re-boot The Great Quince Project.  This year I've had some specific requests for things so that should take care of some of my bounty, but that's not the point of The Great Quince Project.  The point is to explore all sorts of tasty treats that I can only make at this one time of year, so that's what I'm doing.  The first recipe for the season comes from Morocco.  It's not the recipe I initially intended to be the first recipe of the season.  The recipe I originally intended is a savory(ish) recipe, not a dessert.  It did, however, require one to make this recipe first.  Now, I could have written this up as part of that recipe, but I decided not to.  You see, I decided to make a super-sized batch of this ingredient.  A few of the quinces in my bushel were partially bad - no great surprise considering how many there were and the recent weather - so I decided I would use p all the ones that I had to cut up.

So I was already making this recipe.  The day before I decided to cook we'd hosted one of those big medieval history events I've mentioned.  I did not cook for this event, being the event organizer.  I did however find myself with a lot of the leftovers.  One of the dishes of which there were leftovers was rice pudding.  Now, as rice pudding goes it was a wonderful rice pudding - almondy and creamy.  The thing is, I'm not usually the biggest rice pudding fan in the world.  I was however having guests over for dinner that night, and one of those guests is a rice pudding fiend.  I hadn't any other dessert ideas and was frankly exhausted.  Why not add some quinces in rosewater to the rice pudding?

I made a few small changes to the original recipe, other than increasing the quantity as mentioned above.  I decided to use honey instead of superfine sugar.  I had this jar of really tasty, high-quality honey that I'd bought over the summer.  It was still good but it was threatening to crystalize on me.  Rather than waste it, I decided to use it here.  Besides, I love the flavor of honey.  If I have to have sweet, I want it to taste like honey.  I think the proportion of rosewater I used was higher than called for in the original recipe too; the original said "to taste," and "to taste" with regards to rosewater is quite a lot in my book.  I left the lemon zest in the syrup rather than removing it for storage and service, which I thought worked quite well.

I don't mind telling you that this worked out better than I could have possibly imagined.  Both of my guests had been present at the history event the night before and had partaken of the original rice pudding.  They loved the rice pudding then, but they hardly recognized it when the quince and rosewater syrup was added.  They enjoyed the way it meshed with the almond.  And how much did I like it?  I'd originally intended to send home any uneaten rice pudding with my friends, but I kept a little bit back just for me.

Quinces in Rosewater Syrup (serves 12 when used as described; approx. $0.32/serving)

6 - 8 qunces, washed and quartered

18 fluid ounces honey

Zest of two lemons

4 tablespoons rosewater

Water to cover

Equipment:

• Large saucepan
• Large, fine-mesh strainer
• Bowl
• Covered storage bowl

1. Put the quinces - still with their peels and cores - into the saucepan and add water to cover.
2. Bring to a boil, then cover.  Reduce heat and simmer 40 minutes.
3. Drain through the strainer into a bowl.  Return the liquid to the saucepan.  Reserve the solids.
4. Add the honey and lemon zest to the pan.  Stir until the honey no longer resists the spoon.
5. Return the mixture to a simmer.
6. Pull the skin from the quince pieces, then core and halve each piece.
7. Return the quinces to the saucepan with the rosewater.  Continue to simmer another 30 minutes, this time uncovered.
8. Transfer to the covered storage bowl and chill.
9. Serve over rice pudding.  Yogurt or ice cream would make good choices too.

Recipe: Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Recipe Source: Tagore, Kelly. "Sunny Delights." Martha Stewart Living no. 211, June 2011 pp. 141 and 184 – 5

When I was a very little girl, younger than 7 certainly, one of my friends' mothers made cupcakes in ice cream cones. I want to say that it was Heather Prendregast's mother, but it has been a very, very long time since then and memory can be a little fuzzy. In my head it was Heather's mom, anyway. I thought that it was the most clever and amazing thing in the whole wide world, and the very height of elegance. I never really saw such a thing again, but the memory of them stayed with me and I think that in my head I have compared every cupcake to the cone cakes and found them wanting. When I saw the recipe in this month's Martha Stewart Living all the memories came rushing back and I knew I just had to find an excuse.

I think these were simply the cupcakes that were not to be. I initially intended them to be served at my friend's baby shower, which had more people than I think live in all of India. I therefore quadrupled the recipe, which worked just fine. I made the right amount of the buttercream in the recipe, since I had some of the quince buttercream left over from the baby's christening party. However, I was greatly displeased with how this buttercream came out. It was very heavy on the butter – too heavy. As in, it tasted like butter, and when stored overnight in the fridge it behaved like butter. Not, I should point out, like frosting. When I went to use it that morning it was impossible to spread on delicate cupcakes. I cursed and swore, and then I used my leftover buttercream on half of my cupcakes and put the rest away.

Then I brought them to the shower. The shower was already very crowded when I got there. I told someone, either the hostess or her husband, that the cupcakes were there and I put them on a table for someone else to bring out when they were ready. I guess they must not have heard me, or maybe I only meant to tell someone, because they were never put out.

After the shower a few of us – the hosts, the shower-ees, I think another guest as well as me and my husband and kid – stayed to clean up. We decided to order Chinese food for dinner and tide ourselves over with the cupcakes for a little bit. Some of us took a cake. Some of us did not. We put the cupcakes in the center of the dining room table and went about our assigned tasks. Next thing we knew one of the dogs had figured out a way to get up onto the dining room table – and before you think ill of the hosts, he'd never thwarted their schemes to keep him off the table before – and licked every ounce of buttercream off the cupcakes. Every single ounce. Oh was I sad! It's not like the frosting can be made again before quince season.

Anyway, I went home and moped. The next day I learned something. I had seen the cupcakes originally as a vehicle for buttercream and not much more, but I was so very wrong. I ate one of the unfrosted cupcakes for breakfast and I was astonished. The cupcakes were delicious in their own rights. Furthermore, they stayed good and did not grow stale or gross for a good week.

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes (makes 20; approx. $0.29/serving)

20 ice cream cones – you know the kind, the ones that sound a bit like Styrofoam when you poke them

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

6 eggs

3 teaspoons vanilla

1 ½ cups whole milk

Quince Buttercream Frosting

Equipment:

• Stand mixer
• Bowl
• Roasting pan

1. Preheat your oven to 350 ̊.
2. Set up 20 cones in a roasting pan – that's about how many fit in one roasting pan. They should hold each other up nicely.
3. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in the bowl.
4. Cream the butter and sugar in the mixer until pale and fluffy.
5. Add the eggs, 1 at a time.
6. Add the vanilla.
7. Beat in the flour in 3 additions, alternating with the milk, making a total of 5 additions. Beat until combined.
8. Fill each cone.
9. Bake 18 – 20 minutes or until a tester emerges clean.
10. Cool completely before frosting.
11. Frost with the buttercream and serve.

Recipe: Baked Quince

Recipe Source: Batmanglij, Najmieh. Silk Road Cooking. Mage Publishers, Washington DC, 2004 p. 254

This was the dessert for our (likely) final Sunday open house of the season. I almost didn't make it. We got so few guests that our available food far exceeded the stomach capacity of our guests – a natural consequence of holding an open house, when we never know just how many people are going to show up. Our usual emergency backup diners were in Delaware, possibly the only people I've ever met who have gone to visit Delaware on a whim. I decided at the last minute to make this, and by "last minute" I mean too late to do it as intended in the recipe.

I made a couple of small changes – not a lot, because I was still feeling sick and was kind of pressed for time. I increased the number of quinces but used the same amount of cooking liquid. I likewise increased the cinnamon and bay leaves. I used almond extract in place of vanilla as a matter of personal preference. I used the garnish from the Quince and Pomegranate Braise (that had the same origin) instead of the original toasted walnuts because I happened to have a batch of the quince braise pre-made and didn't use it (long story.) I baked the quinces for about half the time required in the recipe, with the result that they were not candied as in the original but were still soft and delicious.

Baked Quince (Serves 8; approx. $1.43/serving)

2 cups water

3/4 cup sugar

4 tablespoons lime juice

½ teaspoon almond extract

4 quinces, unpeeled but quartered

8 cinnamon sticks, broken

8 bay leaves

¾ cup garnish from Quince and Pomegranate Braise

Equipment:

• Mixing bowl
• Deep baking dish

1. Preheat your oven to 350 ̊.
2. Combine the water, sugar, lime juice and almond extract. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.
3. Put the quince parts face up in the baking dish.
4. Lay a cinnamon stick part and a bay leaf in the middle of each quince part.
5. Pour the syrup over the quinces and bake 1 ½ hours.
6. Serve, garnished with the garnish from the Quince and Pomegranate Braise.