Hi Tiffany:
Persimmons are a wonderful fruit! First of all, are your persimmons acorn
shaped or steak tomato shaped (kind of flat)? The persimmons that are acorn
shaped are terrific for cooking (see recipe below), and the flatter
persimmons are awesome sliced like an apple and eaten raw. The raw
persimmon is beautiful when you cut it (look for the star design inside)
and looks lovely on a tray with other sliced fruit or as a decoration on a
fruit salad.
Persimmons have a slight taste of cinnamon. They are very much a seasonal
fruit (fall/early winter) so enjoy them while you can.
This cookie recipe has been in our family for years. We got the recipe from
an old family friend who said she couldn't remember not making these
cookies every fall (in other words, this recipe is as old as the hills). I
modified the recipe a few years ago to make it fat free and to reduce the
amount of sugar. You can't tell the difference from the original recipe
(except that there are no walnuts) because the persimmon and applesauce
make the cookies so sweet and moist.
A bit of a chuckle here---my mother freezes the whole, acorn-shaped
persimmons. When we were kids, sometimes the persimmons would fall out of
the freezer when we opened the door. We called these persimmons "Mom's
frozen cannon balls" and always made sure that we jumped out of the way
before the frozen persimmons could hit our toes!
You can use the pulp from the frozen persimmons in any recipe that calls
for mashed persimmon and many recipes that call for applesauce. Just thaw
the persimmons in a bowl and then peel. They'll be really mushy, but will
taste just fine.
Hope you like the cookies and congrats on discovering a new fruit to enjoy!
Persimmon Drop Cookies
1 cup persimmon pulp (mashed well)
1 tsp. soda dissolved in the pulp (set aside)
1 cup raisins, chopped
2/3 cup sugar (I use 1/3 cup white sugar plus 1/3 cup brown sugar)
2 cups flour
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup liquid egg substitute
1/2 tsp. each cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves
1/4 tsp. salt
Combine applesauce and sugar. Add egg substitute and beat until well
blended. Add persimmon mixture and mix well. Add sifted dry ingredients to
the wet mixture. Stir in chopped raisins.
Let dough sit in refrigerator over night (original recipe said ice box!).
Drop dough from a teaspoon on cookie sheet sprayed with nonstick spray and
bake for 12 minutes in a 350 degree F oven.
These cookies keep well in a can with a tight fitting lid and ship very
well. Instead of making drop cookies, you can spread the dough in a large
(13 x 9-inch) pan coated with nonstick spray and bake to make bar cookies.
I've never done this, but my mother did when she needed to save time.
You'll need to adjust the baking time, so just watch the pan while the bar
cookies are baking.
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Bethann Dennis Watson ~ Technical Editor ~ Cisco Systems, Inc.
Restlessness is discontent, and discontent is the first necessity
of progress.
-Thomas Edison
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