Quince is a fleeting pleasure, but if you peruse Saffron & Honey, you will see that it is a fruit I love using in autumnal tarts, both sweet and savory.
The quince and goat cheese tart is one I come back to most often on special occasions, but this apple and quince tart with rosemary brown butter may be a new favorite.
There is nothing quite like the smell of quince cooking on the stove. You can cook the quince ahead of time and keep it in the fridge for a few days before putting together the tart. The tart itself is best eaten fresh on the day it is made.
To note: The pastry dough recipe used below is my standard one (by Dorie!) linked here.
Apple and Quince Tart
Recipe Type: Dessert
Cuisine: French
Author:
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Tender apples and quince are topped with rosemary brown butter to make a beautiful autumnal tart.
Ingredients
- Pastry dough (linked above)
- 3 large quince
- 3 large apples (honeycrisp works well here, but anything relatively tart will do)
- 8 Tablespoons of unsalted butter
- 0.75 cups sugar
- 2 sprigs of rosemary
Instructions
- Peel, core, and chop the quince into quarters. In a heavy bottomed saucepan with a lid, combine quince, 4 tablespoons of butter and 0.5 cups of sugar. Cover and cook on medium low heat for 30-40 minutes, stirring periodically. The quince should be soft but not falling apart and darkened in color. Set to cool.
- Place the pastry dough in a tart pan, crimp the edges as needed and freeze until ready to bake.
- Peel, core, and quarter the apples. Use a sharp knife to slice the apples as thin as possible (I like to avoid mandoline injuries whenever possible!)
- Slice the prepared quince as thinly as possible as well.
- Preheat the oven to 375F. Take the pastry shell out of the freezer. Layer the quince slices evenly on the bottom of the tart. Follow by layering the apples over the quince – take more care with this part! – overlapping them to make full circles around the outer edge. Continue layering until you have made a small central circle with the apple slices (see photo).
- In a small saucepan, brown the other 4 tablespoons of butter with the sprigs of rosemary. Butter should be foaming and smell nutty. Remove from heat, remove the rosemary and drizzle the brown butter over the apples.
- Sprinkle remaining 0.25 cup of sugar over the top of the apples and bake for 70-80 minutes. Check to make sure that the apples are caramelized and the filling is nice and bubbling.
- Allow tart to cool before serving. This is wonderful served a la mode!
Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours to those of you celebrating in the US this coming week!
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