quince pancakes, gluten-free, dairy-free

Dear neighbors, are you familiar with quince ? wouldn’t advise you to eat it raw, I have never heard it done. Most people have it in a pie, often in combination with apples (such as in this recipe) or make either jam, jelly, or paste (also referred to as “membrillo”) from it. Its seeds are full of pectin, so it makes sense. This pear-shaped fruit with a fuzzy coat used to grow in my garden. Yes, used to. Like me, it took a great fall last spring (still trying to figure out why) but unlike me it didn’t recover… However, I do have some steamed quince in my freezer from last year’s harvest. These days I am not into making jam so much, but I have another recipe to share with you that uses pureed quince: as you may have guessed from my exceptionally inspired title, I am talking about pancakes. This recipe is made with gluten-free oats, but I have been thinking about trying it with buckwheat flakes. It also, as often, comes with several options, all tested and tried in my kitchen : choice of flours (as I know my daughter, for one, won’t be able to find chestnut flour at a price that will agree with her student’s budget!) and also the option of adding prunes that will compensate for the binding effect of quince! On the sulfite front, I don’t think organic prunes would have any but I haven’t tested them on my guinea-pig my dear husband who is not a great fan; so the plain version is for him, well when I say plain I really mean topped with ghee butter and organic agave nectar !

Before I go on with the list of ingredients and you start thinking about making pancakes for breakfast, you will need to cook the quince.

This is how I do it : I start by rubbing the fuzz off the fruit with a cloth or paper towel, then place it under running water ; then I cut the quince in halves (an operation which requires a good knife and a bit of strength… This is when I am happy my therapist has me lifting weights these days!). I then steam them for half an hour maybe ? I never looked at the clock. Note that I do not bother to either peel the quince or remove its core ; this is unnecessary hard labor, as the steaming will make both peeling and coring easier afterwards. Then I simply puree the cooked fruit before freezing it in 100 g batches.

Ingredients ( for about 4 pancakes)

(all my ingredients are preferably organic)

– 40 g / ¼ cup gluten-free ground oats, ground

– 10 g / 1 ½ TBSP rice flour

– 10 g / 1 ½ TBSP chestnut flour (my favorite) OR coconut flour OR organic almond meal

– about ¼ tsp baking soda + some lemon juice to activate it OR ½ tsp baking powder, sulfite and gluten free for us ; I have tested Trader Joe’s baking powder umpteen times, never had problems with it

– 100 g ( / 1/3 cup ) steamed pureed quince

– 1 TBSP natural cane sugar

– 2 organic eggs

– 1 to 2 TBSP non dairy milk, or none, depending on the thickness of the batter

– 6 organic prunes (optional)

How to:

1. The night before, soak the prunes in a small bowl of water.

2. Put the oats through a grinder and mix dry ingredients together.

3. Beat the eggs and sugar, mix into pureed quince.

4. Combine with the flour mix, and add some non-dairy milk if the batter seems too thick.  Don’t forget the lemon juice (freshly squeezed from a lemon, the juice from a bottle inevitably having sulfites) to activate the baking soda, if using.

5. Cook on low (I kinda forgot to lower the heat the day I took the pictures!) after heating up a slightly greased pan with either olive oil or coconut oil, about 6 minutes before flipping the pancakes. You know it’s time when the edges look cooked and the bubbles at the surface start to burst.

Batter just poured into the pan and prune bits added to my pancakes.

As soon as the bubbles start to burst, flip the pancakes over.

The second side takes a lot less time, 1 or 2 minutes are generally plenty! I add the cut up prunes while cooking the first side, but I suppose you can add them to the batter before pouring onto the pan. Get the coffee or tea ready while your pancakes cook and enjoy, dear neighbors… unless you decide to freeze them for those rushed mornings when you had a fight with your alarm!  Then all you need is to pop them in the microwave for under a minute or so 😉  !

Just to give you a glimpse of what they look like inside.  I like the fact that they don’t have much sugar and that they are moist, much more (much moister?  what a funny word…) than some gluten-free pancakes I have tasted.

The plain version… Nothing much to say here, it’s pancakes!

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