We have some new flatmates. It’s a group of about 40 quinces. They sit on every window sill and sleep in every huge pot we have. The good thing is that it smells heavenly in every room, the bad thing is that the quinces look at me with sad faces every day because I ignore them. Some days ago  I finally gave in to make a quince tart. I didn’t call this a pie because the marzipan crust isn’t really a crust…it is just a very delicious marzipan topping.

Quince Tart

For the tart crust:
225 g light spelt flour (8 oz)
1/2 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt
1 T cornstarch
35 g margarine (2.5 T), cut into small pieces
85 g coconut oil (6 1/4 T)*, not melted but cut into small pieces
3 T maple syrup

* I had some leftover margarine, I wanted to use up. You can go for 100 % of either margarine or coconut oil. When it comes to coconut oil, I use the refined but non-hydrogenated kind.

To make the crust: Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cornstarch, and salt in a bowl. Mix and add fats. With a fork or your hands, combine everything until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add maple syrup and mix again until the dough starts to turn into large crumbles. (You can do all this in a food processor too. I was too tired to think about this possibility.) Prepare a 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8 inch) baking pan by lining it with parchment paper. (You can use a small round pie pan, too.) Pour the dough into the pan and press down to the bottom and the sides. Cover with plastic wrap and chill the pan in the fridge for a couple of hours (I let it sit there over night.)

For the quince filling:
4 quinces (about 1 kg [2 lb], washed, peeled and cut into wedges.
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup raw sugar
juice from 1/2 lime
3 cloves

Cook for 15 minutes in a small saucepan or until soft (some quinces may require a longer cooking time) , drain and reserve cooking liquid. Set aside to cool.

To make the pie:
200 g (7 oz.) marzipan
cornstarch for dusting
quince jelly (3-4 T)
2 T rum
1 T raw or brown sugar
1 pinch ground vanilla
1 T melted margarine or coconut oil

Preheat oven to 170°C (340°F). Remove chilled dough from refrigerator. Poke some holes into it with a fork, spread some quince jelly on top and bake for 5 minutes.
Divide the marzipan into two equal pieces. Roll out one piece into a 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8 inch) rectangle. Dust with cornstarch to prevent sticking. Repeat with the second piece of marzipan. If you chose a round pie pan, roll the first piece into a shape that will fit the bottom of your pan. Place one piece of marzipan on the prebaked crust and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven but don’t turn off the heat. Cut the second piece of marzipan into 10 equal strips and set aside.

Assemble the quince wedges on top of the crust:

assembling the quinces

In a small saucepan, combine the reserved quince cooking liquid with 1 T of sugar, 1 T of rum, and a pinch of vanilla. Cook over high heat for five minutes. The mixture should have turned into a thick sugar syrup.
Evenly drizzle the syrup over the assembled quinces. Pour 1 T of rum and 1 T of melted fat over the pie. Place the marzipan strips on the pie so that they form a lattice-top crust. Brush with more quince jelly and bake for 15 more minutes until the marzipan is golden brown. Let cool completely and remove from pan. Serve with whipped soy cream.