Quince Pastafrola

This quince pie is one of my favorites. It´s quite informal and usually served for tea, not as a dessert. My father taught me this recipe on my last trip to my home country, Argentina.  You can replace the quince with sweet potato jam, dulce de leche or any other jam that goes well with lemon flavored dough.


INGREDIENTS: For a 30cm cake pan

A- Patience
B- 500-600 grams of quince sweet
C- 120 grams of melted butter
D- 1 cup of regular sugar
E- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
F- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
G- Peel from one lemon
H- 1 egg
I- 1 egg yolk
J- 360 grams of all purpose flour
K- 1 pinch of salt

PROCEDURE:

FIRST STEP: Cut the sweet quince in cubes and place them on a bowl. We will later heat it in the microwave.

SECOND STEP: Melt butter in another bowl.

THIRD STEP: Add the sugar to the melted butter and stir with a fork until well integrated.

FOURTH STEP: Add the vanilla extract, baking powder and stir again.

FIFTH STEP: While stirring energetically add the lemon peel, egg and egg yolk.

SIXTH STEP: Finally, to conclude with the dough recipe, add the flour while stirring. Do not add the flour all at once. Eventually, you will have to use your hands.

SEVENTH STEP: Split the dough in two different sizes: one slightly bigger than the other one.
The bigger dough will be used for the base.

EIGHTH STEP: Place the bigger dough on the pan´s base and press it in order to cover the entire base.

NINTH STEP: Pour half a cup of water to the bowl with the quince and heat it until it boils in the microwave.

TENTH STEP: With a fork, press the quince until you obtain a  creamy texture.

ELEVENTH STEP: Pour the quince on top of the raw base dough and spread it to the borders, leaving a clean 1-1.5cm gap.

TWELFTH STEP: With the remaining doug make rounded strips and place them one 2.5-3cm away from the other on straight lines. When you covered the pan with the lines, place the other ones 90 degrees from the previous ones. Make sure to make a long strip to place on the circumference and press it with the fingers. Sounds tough but it´s not! Check pictures below.

THIRTEENTH STEP:  Bake on a preheated oven, medium temperature until the upper strips are golden color.

And there you have it, a delicious quince pastafrola!