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Tahini Dough:

1 cup flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons organic cane sugar

½ cup tahini paste, cold

1 egg, lightly beaten

3-4 tablespoons ice water

In a food processor combine the flour, salt, and sugar. Pulse to integrate the dry ingredients. Add the tahini paste, distributing it around the flour. Pulse until the mixture resembled coarse meal. Add the egg and water, and continue to pulse until the mixture holds together but is not too wet. Don’t over pulse the contents of the food processor. Gather the dough into a ball and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Quince filling:

2 quinces, quartered and cored, a few seeds reserved

1 ½ cups sugar

1 cup water

½ vanilla bean, split and scraped or ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cloves

Lemon juice

Bring the sugar and water to a simmer in a pot, until the sugar has dissolved. Meanwhile, Slice each quarter of the quince into quarters and transfer to the pot, along with the clove and vanilla. If you are using extract instead of the bean, add it once you take the pan off the heat at the end. Simmer the contents of the pot for about 2 hours, or until the quince turns red. Strain the quince of the syrup, reserving both, and remove the vanilla and the cloves.
Roughly fork mash the quince.

To assemble:
Divide the dough into 4 equal parts.
Dust a work surface generously with flour, and roll out each piece of dough to be about 1/8” thick. Spoon a dollop of mashed quince into the center, leaving a good inch of space along the rim. Roll up two opposite sides, followed by the remaining two opposite sides, leaving a small square of quince peeking through.
Bake in a 375º F oven for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 and bake for a remaining 10 minutes.
When you take the letter out of the oven, brush it generously with the reserved syrup to coat the dough.

Serve with the Tahini Cream (optional), lightly toasted pistachios, and pomegranate seeds.
Makes 4 love letters.

Garnish:
3 tablespoons pistachios, lightly toasted and chopped
3 tablespoons pomegranate seeds
Tahini Cream (recipe below):

Tahini Cream (optional):
¼ cup tahini
1 tablespoon honey
Up to ¼ cup water
Pinch ground cardamom

Use a small food processor or bowl with a whisk to blend the tahini with the honey. Gradually add the water, until you have a light, whitish “cream”. Season with the cardamom if you would like.