Apologies for such a long time between updates! We have both been so busy with work and social life... but we promise we didn't forget about you!

Today our recipe is a run on from our poached quince recipe! If you make the poached quinces, you should DEFINITELY make these quince muffins! These went so fast and were super delicious. They're easy to make too!

So here's what you'll need:

• 1 Cup of pureed poached quinces (previously made here)
• 12 individual slices of poached quince (for "garnishing")
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup oil
• 3 tbsp milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt 

Okay, so the first thing you want to do is preheat your oven (180 C) and grease your muffin tray and all that lovely stuff. I would spray oil (if i had some) - whoever invented that must be rich - just make sure you do the spraying outside otherwise you might end up with a greasy counter top or a slippery floor!! But if you're like me and you want to do it the old fashioned way, get one of those little paintbrush thingers and oil it up that way.

Now, in one bowl you want to whisk together the pureed quince, sugar, oil, eggs and mil. In another bowl you should combine together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. My baking soda was a bit lumpy, so i put it through a sifter. Right on. 


Now the next part is a little bit delicate - you mix the wet ingredients into the dry, but you don't want to mix it TOO much, otherwise you will end up with rock cakes! (if the mixture looks a bit lumpy, don't worry about it, it's fiiiiine.)

 

So, your next step is just to divide the mixture into your muffin tray, and then very gently lay a slice of quince on the top of each muffin. Now all you have left to do is pop them in the oven for about 20 mins - just until they start to look brown on the top... you can do the 'tooth-pick-trick' if you're worried about them not being properly cooked.

How easy was that??! And they taste like little muffin miracles... don't take my word for it, make them and try it yourself! A-MA-ZING. 

I have named this recipe Sexy Quince because... i honestly didn't know how amazing it would taste until it was done, and now i feel like this fruit/recipe is completely under-rated. We were given some quinces from Michael's Mum (Sandra) and we really didn't know what to do with them. We decided perhaps something like Quince Muffins? Michael's dad (Les) suggested we stew or poach them in some way, because they're not the kind of fruit you just throw into your cooking. So! After a little bit of discussion and research in regards to quinces, this is the recipe we came up with.

Ingredients:
Quinces (i used 4 in this recipe, but had a lot of syrup leftover)
1.5 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla bean paste



Let's DO eet:
So, throw your water and sugar into a saucepan on medium-high heat. Stir it around until it's mostly dissolved. Now add in your lemon juice and vanilla paste. I suppose if you wanted to get fancy, you could add something else in like cinnamon.... but we're just keeping this simple.

You will want to be pretty careful when you're cutting up the quince; it's a bit tricky and i almost lost a finger. The easiest/best way i found was to cut them into quarters, then cut out the seeds and peel them... then cut each quarter into thirds. You can throw them into the pot as you're cutting them, that way you're not bringing the temperature down by adding them all in at once. Now you will want to bring this to the boil, and then pull the temperature right down low. Pop a lid on, and let it simmer away for about an hour. That's it! You're done. You will notice a beautiful colour change as they cook.


You can eat them straight away while they're warm - they would be absolutely HEAVENLY with a scoop of ice cream... or you can put them in the fridge for later and the colour will brighten & deepen even more. Yay for pretty food! And seriously, they melt on your tongue. Yuuuuum! Hmm, i wonder if these will last long enough for us to puree them and make muffins? Maybe not. NOM-NOM-NOM! Enjoy. ^.^