A Quintuplet of Quinces in a Perfect Puff Pastry

There are certain times during the year that you are so overburdened with certain fruits or vegetables that you don’t know what to do with them.

Sometimes, I get overburdened with too many recipes or ideas for a certain item.

A few months back, this was my life. The fruit in question was a quince.

Before being plastered with quince recipes, I had never really heard of a quince. I soon deducted that it was like an apple and I vowed to try one some day.

I guess that day was today. On Monday I found some quinces in Roots and Fruits so I bought one. I had no idea what to do with it so I bought some puff pastry as well. I’ve been looking for a reason to buy some of that.

I’ve been kind of off from school this week so I decided that tonight I’d make myself a really nice dinner and I invited my friend over. I browsed the internet quickly on how to cook a quince and set off.

1 quince, chopped

½ a large baking apple, sliced thinly

1 pkg puff pastry

Ground cinnamon

Vanilla paste (if you can’t find it, it’s not necessary but if you can find it, it’s worth the price)

Demerara (raw) sugar

1. Put the quince in some water (a few tablespoons to start off with) with some cinnamon and let them cook, adding water if it goes dry. They took about fifteen minutes for me. You want them tender.
2. While they’re cooking, cut the puff pastry into squares a few inches wide and arrange the sliced apple on top.
3. When the quince is done, put a spoonful on each puff pastry. I made little towers of apple and quince in the middle of mine, counting on the pastry to make a bowl for them.
4. To your discretion, sprinkle some sugar and cinnamon on the top and then drizzle some vanilla paste over the whole thing as well. Vanilla paste is concentrated so you don’t need a lot.
5. Bake on 220°C/430°F for about ten to fifteen minutes or until the pastry is puffed and browned. Serve warm.
   

My friend happened to bite into hers just before I did and she exclaimed on how good they were. In my head I scoffed a little, they couldn’t be that good, but I bit in and… she was right! They were good! They were like little mini pies – but without all that yukky pie crust. And, they were incredibly easy to make. (Perhaps I’ve been watching too much Jamie Oliver’s 30 Minute Meals…)