Baked Quince With Honey

This easy baked quince recipe features one of the simplest, coziest, and healthy wintry fruit desserts. Fork tender and almost sticky quince fruit, that's baked slowly in a honey and orange syrup flavored with brandy and spices.

There aren't many quince dessert recipes nor many recipes using quinces in general. Even though quince is a very delicious and healthy fruit it's not as popular as other fruit.

I think the reason is that people don't know how to cook quince fruit. Or perhaps haven't tried it yet. Truth be told, it's a pretty hard fruit that does need some cooking time to get soft and edible. But once cooked, you get to taste something very delicious. Whether you're making a savory quince recipe or a quince dessert.

Table Of Contents

• Baking With Quince
• Ingredients + Substitutes
• How To Prepare Quince
• Fillings + Toppings
• Storing
• FAQS
• Recipe

-If you want to know more about quince fruit check out this post. Or jump to FAQS below.

Baking With Quince

In Mediterranean and Eastern countries, quinces are almost always slowly baked in syrup. Baked quinces in syrup are a popular dessert in many countries, including Portugal, Italy, Turkey, and Greece to name a few.

Most of the time the fruit is baked with water and plenty of sugar that thickens down into a syrup after an hour or more of baking. The sugar syrup is flavored either with brandy or red wine and warm spices like cinnamon, cloves, and/or star anise.

Covering quince fruit while it bakes ensures the fruit softens without burning or getting too much color.

Once baked, the fruit is topped either with ice cream or some whipped cream as well as ground nuts of preference (walnuts or pistachios).

In this baked quince recipe, I don't use any sugar just honey. Honey gives a balanced sweetness contrary to sugar syrup which makes the fruit overly sweet. If you're looking for a really sweet dessert then check out my stewed apples in syrup recipe.

Honey quince is tart with a sweetness that feels natural and not overwhelming.

Keeping the sweetness in balance means you get to use these baked quinces in savory recipes as well. I like adding them to leafy green salads together with radicchio, and rocket and nuts (like the ones mentioned above). Or you can serve with meat roasts as a sweet and savory garnish.

Also, the orange juice used in the honey syrup gives an appetizing acidity and slightly sour flavor. Think of a sweet and sour orange dessert for example.

Ingredients + Substitutes

• Ripe quince fruit. The fruit should be yellow, not greenish.
• Honey.
• Fresh orange juice. You can sub for apple juice, pomegranate juice, or even grape juice.
• Brandy. You can use sweet red wine instead or an almond liqueur.
• Cinnamon stick (non-negotiable!).
• Cloves. Star anise works as well.

How To Prepare Quince

The skin. To prepare quince fruit, some recipes require removing the skin while others don't. The skin sometimes contains a fuzz on it, that you need to rinse and remove with a dish sponge. The skin of the quince also contains a good amount of pectin that's useful in thickening and glazing a syrup or jam.

In this recipe, we leave the skin on to help thicken the syrup and for the fruit to keep its shape.

The flesh. The flesh of quince is pretty firm so it takes some strength to cut and core. You need a chef's knife to cut the quince in half and then either a small spoon or a fruit baller scoop (though I've broken mine while preparing them) to scoop out the seeds from the center. The center part of the fruit is harder than the remaining part of the flesh so you need to remove it. Creating a small well in the center of each half.

TIP: Quinces just like apples will start to get darker in color once their flesh is exposed to air. So after preparing a quince half, rub some lemon on it to prevent this.

Fillings + Toppings

• Raw or toasted walnuts chopped. You can mix them with raisins or cranberries and ground cinnamon.
• Homemade whipped cream. Or Yogurt Whipped Cream (even better!).
• Ground pistachios + ground cinnamon.
• Vanilla ice cream + ground cinnamon.
• Frozen yogurt (my preference). Try my frozen yogurt with honey if you want to skip sugar.

Storing

Allow the baked quince to cool down to room temperature and then refrigerate. It will keep for up to a week in an airtight food container.

FAQS

• When are quince in season? Quince are in season from late October to late December or early January.
• Can I roast quince? For roasted quince, after baking and softening the fruit, you can put it under the broiler for a few minutes to char a bit on top.
• How long do I cook quince? That depends on the ripeness of the fruit. When cooking quince always test with a knife to see if the fruit has softened. No worries though even when overcooking, due to its firm texture, quince is difficult to turn mushy.
• What to do with quince? Baked quince can be sliced or chopped and added on leafy green salads, Greek yogurt (they go great together) on top of cakes, inside tarts, to serve with roast beef or pork, or even serve it with a cheese appetizer.
• Can I add sugar? If you want extra sweet quince add 2-3 tablespoons of brown sugar or plain sugar to the syrup.
• What to make with quinces leftovers? Add in a blender or food processor with some of the syrup to turn them into a jam-like paste, then use it to make Greek Pasta Flora or Vienesse Whirls Cookies.

And A Few More Of The Best Quinces Recipes...

Another quince honey recipe is this Ancient Greek-inspired Quince Tart (refined sugar-free + olive oil crust). Quince Preserves (traditional Greek spoon sweet). Beef Red Wine Stew With Quinces. Membrillo (Quince Paste).

Recipe