Samhain dessert recipe: Autumn Quince and Apple dessert with Chestnut, Pecan and rose.
What makes a dessert a dessert? I asked myself this question while I was preparing this recipe.
When I was a kid, a dessert had to have sugar in it. It usually came at the end of a meal and it was something I enjoyed, but not too much.
I’ve always favoured salty flavours while growing up.
Unlike most of my peers, I was that “boring” girl that asked for water in birthday parties instead of fizzy drinks. The mere thought of artificial gas packed with sugar made me question my whole existence, but I never thought I was weird because of that. I just thought, they might be searching for something different. I never felt left out either. I liked water. I still do.
But what happens when, in your adult years, you give dessert a different perspective. Sugar is not a player in the game anymore. Not because you are scared of it, just because you don’t really like it. And, even though you take it every now and then when your body asks for it, you don’t keep it at home?
Well, then the answer is: A dessert is a sweet dish. It doesn’t matter if there’s sugar in it or just fruit (which of course has a different kind of sugar). The predominant taste needs to be sweet. As opposed to bitter, salty and sour. It doesn’t mean it can’t be salty. The first thing that comes to mind is salty caramel. Or sour, think adding some raspberry and lemon coulis on top of a cheesecake…
There are endless possibilities to dessert, but lately I’ve been going back to my fruit-lover side. And so, I developed this simple and easy recipe to honour that part of me.
Appart from that, I always want to add my contribution to celebrating Samhain, Halloween or whatever you call this day. Celebrating is one of my main things in life and I develop most of my recipes according to a celebration, or a season. This Autumn is Sunny and hot, and a bit weird because I’ve lost so much lately. But there’s rain, and love and reasons to celebrate everyday.
I know Solstice brings feelings of sadness, but it represents balance, and celebrating the Witches’ New Year is something I never forget. No matter how big or small I decide to celebrate.
I’m very fond of rituals and Autumn is full of them. There’s probably nothing better than a warm cup of tea, or cacao in the evening. After dinner. Cuddling in the sofa while I watch the fire.
Samhain makes me think about all those cozy rituals, and it’s a very important time of the year. It’s also a celebration for those who’ve passed.
Even though I started celebrating it as Halloween when I was a kid, I started researching and discovered that my Celtic roots where guilty for that. And now, of course, I celebrate Samhain. Not that celebrating Halloween is bad, it’s not. In fact if it weren’t for the mainstream interest in Halloween, in Galicia, we’d probably left Samhain forgotten. Sometimes we need the shadow to reveal the light and vice versa. When you have a mirror to project an image, it’s easier to learn what you’d rather have in your life.
One of the first words that come to mind when I celebrate Samhain is Chestnuts. In Galicia there’s an abundance of chestnuts everywhere you go. I have a huge tree in the backyard and, this year, she’s been very generous.
But there’s another word that comes to mind to me: Quince.
My grandpa used to make the best quince jelly I’ve ever tried (followed by mine, because I learned from him). And since the quince tree died, I’ve been missing him a lot more. This year I decided to combine both ingredients in a dessert recipe for Samhain.
The thing is, we have our own brain connections when we think about a word, like I said about chestnuts and quince. But there’s also the modern associations, like pecans. Which I’ve been watching in many Hollywood movies and North American recipes for Thanksgiving. Their flavour bring fall to my recipes.
But why leave it there? I wanted this to be a special dessert, no matter the sugar. It needed to be beautiful, light and easy to digest because of the nuts I added, but I wanted it to be fragrant and autumnal. So I added apples and thyme.
To finish, I just want to say that I lost a very special member of the family in October. I just keep losing loved ones lately. They make me learn a lot about myself, but I really don’t know how much more I can take. To honour the love I feel for him, I added rose petals. Rose is a heart tonic and it really helps healing the heart. Of course, it’s optional in the recipe, but you won’t regret using it. Using flowers while cooking gives the recipe a whole different perspective. A much needed different perspective.
I hope you enjoy this recipe. I’d love to hear about what you cook in Samhain or Halloween or Autumn.
Autumn Quince and Apple dessert
Prep Time 1 hour
Servings 4 people
Ingredients
- 6 quinces medium
- 10 red apples small
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 100 g chestnuts boiled and peeled
- 100 g pecans
- 1 tbsp rose petals dried
Instructions
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Boil the apples cut in 4 pieces. Use just a tiny bit of water in order to keep the fruit from sticking on the bottom. Keep the peel and the core. You'll discard them later.
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Do the same in a different pot with the quinces.
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Once they cool down. take the peel and try to keep as much fruit as possible. In the case of the apples it will make a huge difference in colour.
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Once you've peeled and de-cored all of the fruit, mash them and keep separately in the fridge.
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Serve a ball of each fruit purée. Top with fresh thyme leaves and rose petals.
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Chop some boiled chestnuts and add to the side, do the same with the pecans or leave whole.
Recipe Notes
If you are used to sugary desserts, you can add some maple syrup on top of everything. I do not recommend this though because the subtlety of the fruit sweetness would be lost. But maple syrup combines perfectly with all of these flavours.
In my opinion, it tastes better from the fridge, but if it's very cold outside, you can enjoy warm. Your choice!
You can be messy and eat both of the compotes together, they complement each other. I just loved the way both have a different tone of rosé.
If you can't find rose petals, but still want the depth and loving touch of flowers, add some lavender.
Here you have a couple of recipes from previous Samhain celebrations.
Traditional, simple plant-based Colcannon:
Plant-based Mac & Cheese:
And this beautiful Raw Vegan Gluten Free Carrot Cake in case you want more sweetness:
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Have fun and keep fooding!
