Quince Crumble with Lillet Blanc Cordials #Winophiles

As we race towards the holiday season, and the end of the year, Jill of L'Occasion invited the French Winophiles to post about French dessert wines. You can read her full invitation: here. "Just as a dessert wine beautifies the winding-down of dinner, this experience eases us through the end of 2017 to a new and bright 2018," she writes. What a beautiful sentiment for our fun, wine-loving group!

What the Group is Pouring, Pairing, and Posting

• Discovering Maury AOC with Susannah at Avvinare
• Quince Crumble with Lillet Blanc Cordials created by Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Affordable France: Bordeaux Reds and Sauternes Wines served by Gwen at Wine Predator
• 2010 Cave de Rasteau “Signature” Vin Doux Naturel and Brutti Ma Buoni written by Martin at ENOFYLZ Wine Blog
• 2011 Châteu Grand-Jauga Sauternes presented by Amber at Napa Food and Vine
• The Sweet Secret of Barsac: Château Doisy-Daëne comes from Lynn at Savor the Harvest 
• But First, Dessert! Get to Know French Dessert Wines with Liz at What’s in that Bottle
• Revealing Roussillon’s Sweeter Side from Michelle at Rockin Red Blog
• When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Sauternes with Jeff at Food Wine Click
• How to Pair Sauternes with Dessert served up by Jane at Always Ravenous
• At L’Occasion they tuck into Dessert Wines from Southern France

What I Poured
Though I'm not much for sweet wines, I did have a bottle of Lillet Blanc in the fridge that I had used for my Guardians of the Galaxy-inspired Ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb! Martini.

Lillet Blanc is comprised of 80% Semillon, 15% Sauvignon Blanc, and 5% Muscadelle. While I usually think of this as a light, summer option, its floral notes reminded me of elderflower liqueur, so I thought to use it as I would an elderflower liqueur. Then I served the dessert with a lovely cordial of Lillet!

What I Baked
Autumn and Winter mean baking for me. Lots and lots of baking. Okay, truth be told, I bake all year long. But when the days get shorter and colder, I bake more. And when I saw a basket full of quince I think I squealed. Literally squealed. People stared. Oh, well...if they don't understand my joy at seeing this elusive fruit, too bad.

I adore quince. If you're unfamiliar, here's a piece I wrote for Edible Monterey Bay a couple of years back: Queen of Quince Takes Her Show on the Road. 

Ingredients serves 6 to 8

• 4 or 5 quince
• 1/2 C organic granulated sugar
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 1 t Lillet Blanc
• 1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 T organic corn starch

Topping

• 1-1/2 C flour
• 3/4 C organic granulated sugar
• 3/4 C organic dark brown sugar
• 1 t ground ginger
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t ground nutmeg
• 1/2 t ground cardamom
• 1/2 C butter, cubed
• 1 T Lillet Blanc

Procedure
Rinse the quince and place them in a large pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Simmer uncovered for 75 to 90 minutes until the quince is tender. The fruit will turn golden; the longer you poach it, the more pinkish it becomes.

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and butter a baking dish.

Slice drained, poached quince in half. Remove the cores and stems. Cut into thick slices and place in a mixing bowl. Sprinkle with corn starch, sugar, cinnamon, Lillet Blanc, and lemon juice.

Toss to coat. Spoon the quince into your prepared baking dish.

For the topping...place all of the ingredients into a mixing bowl and use a pastry cutter to create pea-sized chunks.

Spoon the topping over the quince and use a spatula to spread it over the top. 

Bake the crumble for 40-50 minutes, until the topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving. Serve hot with a cordial of Lillet.