This is the time of year when persimmons seem to pop up everywhere. My only experience with the fruit was back when I was a young girl and I happened to bite into one that wasn’t ripe causing my mouth to pucker up and lips to tingle. It was not a pleasant experience at all! Hence my distaste for the fruit to this day.
So when I received a gift of ripe persimmons I wanted to use them in a recipe, I wasn’t about to eat one of them. So how does one turn ripe persimmons into a delectable cookie with everyone’s favorite flavors of fall? With this easy recipe!
The first order of business is taking the ripe fruit and turning it into pulp that you can use. The riper the fruit the sweeter it is. It’s the same principle when you make banana bread, you want to use bananas that are very, very ripe. The riper the better.
Take a sharp paring knife and carefully cut away the skin of the fruit.
Leave as much of the flesh behind as you can.
Cut off the end with the leaves. Use the tip of the paring knife to remove the seeds and discard them.
Mash the pulp either with your hands or using a potato masher. You will need 1 cup of persimmon pulp for this recipe. It takes between 2-3 persimmons to make 1 cup of pulp; depending on their size and how much of the flesh you cut off when removing the skin.
When Mother Nature blesses you with her bounty it’s an all or nothing kinda thing! What do you do when you have more persimmons than you can conceivably eat before they all go bad? Freeze extra pulp to use later!!!
TIP: Measure out 1 cup portions and place extra pulp in ziplock baggies. Squeeze out excess air from the bag, seal, and store flat in the freezer. Pulp will thaw quickly if frozen flat this way.
Preparing the pulp is the hardest part, now we can move on to baking up these delectable morsels of yumminess!
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line two baking sheets with silpat liners or parchment paper. Set aside.
In a bowl mix together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Set aside.
In another mixing bowl, use the whisk attachment on high speed to cream together butter and sugar until fluffy, smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes.
Add persimmon pulp, egg and vanilla. Continue to mix until well combined.
Reduce the speed on the mixer to the low setting, and slowly add the flour mixture, a little at a time, to the wet ingredients.
Once batter is well combined, fold in chopped walnuts and dried cranberries.
Drop batter by rounded spoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets.
Use the back of a spoon to spread out the cookies to desired size. Batter will not spread in the oven while it bake.
Bake cookies for 16-18 minutes, until they are lightly browned along the edges and the centers are set.
Remove cookies from the oven and allow them to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes.
Transfer cookies onto a wire rack to cool completely.
The persimmon pulp makes these cookies moist and tender with all the wonderful flavors of a cool, crisp, fall day. These cookies aren’t overly sweet and they’re a snap to make. Let’s face it, home baked treats really are the best!
Persimmon Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup persimmon pulp, seeds removed
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup walnuts, chopped
- 1 cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line two baking sheets with silpat liners or parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a bowl mix together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, on high speed, whip together butter and sugar until fluffy and creamy.
- Add persimmon pulp, egg and vanilla. Continue to mix until well combined.
- Reduce the speed on the mixer to low, and slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients.
- Once batter is well combined, fold in chopped walnuts and dried cranberries.
- Drop batter by rounded spoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets.
- Flatten and spread out cookie batter with the back of a spoon.
- Bake cookies for 12-14 minutes, until they are lightly browned along the edges and the centers are set.
- Remove cookies from the oven and allow them to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes.
- Transfer cookies onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Did You Make This?
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