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Quince Tarte Tatin Recipe

A slice of French quince tarte Tatin with the rest of the dessert in the background.
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5 from 22 reviews

This easy quince tarte Tatin is a French upside-down tart made with quinces poached in a spiced honey-vanilla syrup, caramelized in butter, and baked under a golden puff pastry crust. Flipped over and served warm with cream or vanilla ice cream, it is a favorite fall dessert.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 puff pastry dough
  • 6 - 8 large quinces

For poached quinces:

  • 6 1/3 cups (1.5 liters) water
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 cup (200 g) brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup (75 ml) honey
  • 2 whole star anise
  • 1 vanilla bean (split lengthwise)

For the caramel:

  • 1/2 cup (112 g) granulated sugar
  • 2.8 oz. (80 g) butter
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

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Instructions

  1. To poach quinces, peel the fruit with a vegetable peeler, remove the quince core, and cut into quarters. In a saucepan, heat water, brown sugar, honey, vanilla, whole star anise, and lemon juice. Add quince quarters into the simmering liquid. Cover the pan with a parchment paper circle with a small hole cut in the center, and place it on top. Simmer quince quarters (do not boil) for two hours, maybe longer, until quinces are rosy in color. To test the fruit, insert the tip of a knife: it must come in and out easily. Remove from the heat, drain the quinces in a colander or lift them out of the syrup with a slotted spoon, and let cool.
  2. To make the caramel, place the sugar and lemon juice in a tarte Tatin pan or a 9-inch (23 cm) pie pan. Cook until the sugar melts and begins to caramelize. Add butter and let cook until melted, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and arrange the poached quinces over the caramel in a spiral, cut sides facing up, packing them as tightly as possible. Bring the pan over medium heat and cook for 10 to 12 minutes to caramelize the fruit. Remove from the heat and let cool.
  3. Preheat oven to 355 F/180 C. Roll the dough with a rolling pin and cut a circle of the pan size you are using. Place the puff pastry over the quinces and prick it with a fork. Then bake for about 25 minutes.
  4. After baking, allow the dessert to rest for about 5 minutes, then invert the pan onto a serving plate, using oven mitts. 

Notes

  1. Watch for the quinces to be ready while poaching the fruit. The required time is about 2 hours, sometimes longer; so, test the fruit for readiness from time to time while cooking.
  2. Store poached quinces in the fridge in an airtight container, submerged in the syrup for up to one week. 
  3. Do not burn the caramel: once it gets a deep amber color, add butter.
  4. Use a store-bought butter-based puff pastry. If you are not a fan of puff pastry, replace it with your favorite pie crust. 
  5. Prick the puff pastry with a fork before covering the quinces. This step is optional, but it allows steam to escape during baking. 
  6. Do not let the baked quince tarte Tatin stay in the pan longer than 5 minutes: the dessert will stick to the pan. If it happens, place the pan over low heat, stirring gently to remove the tarte Tatin from the edges. Then invert the pan onto a plate.

Nutrition

Find it online: https://www.bakinglikeachef.com/easy-quince-tarte-tatin-recipe/