Persimmon Cookies...or Cake or Bread or Muffins | RECIPE


What in the world, is a persimmon!? I had never seen nor heard of them. They must not be popular in my neck of the woods, I thought. They look like tomatoes though and "like the tomato, persimmons are not popularly considered to be berries, but in terms of botanical morphology the fruit is in fact a berry"(Wikipedia). So it's settled then, they are tomato-berries.

I figured since it's a fruit there has to be a good dessert type food that uses them. Sure enough apparently persimmon pudding is a big deal but so are breads and cookies. Cookies it is!

Persimmon Cookies (Adapted from this recipe by Ruth)

Ingredients:
  • A stick of butter or 1/2 cup shortening
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 cup persimmon pulp
Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. Make your persimmon pulp. Use 2-3 persimmons depending on their size. All I did was put them in the blender with a little water and the result was a persimmon puree, good enough.
  3. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg and the vanilla; mix well.
  4. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir flour mixture into creamed sugar mixture.
  5. Stir in the chopped walnuts, 1/4 teaspoon salt and persimmon pulp; mix well.
  6. Drop by the teaspoonful on greased or parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Your result should be persimmon cookies that have a little spice and it's ever so nice. They are soft and spongy like muffin tops! Their texture is more cake and bread like, so definitely try the batter in a loaf pan or muffin tins.

Oh my goodness and have you ever heard of a Quince!? That discovery is for another day...