On my last trip to the farmer's market I ended up with several persimmons. The goat cheese lady gave them to me and said they were great for making persimmon bread. I can't say that I've ever had a persimmon until now. An internet search lead me to David Lobovitz's blog and a recipe from James Beard for persimmon bread. Here's my adaptation:
Persimmon Bread
3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp nutmeg
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
4 large eggs, room temperature
2/3 cup dark rum
2 cups persimmon puree
2 cups walnuts, toasted and chopped
2 cups dried fruit, chopped
Preheat the oven to 350. Butter two 9-inch loaf pans and flour the bottoms of the pan.
The persimmons need to be very soft before using them. Spoon the pulp out of the persimmons and into a blender and puree to get a thick persimmon puree.
Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, and sugar. In a separate bowl lightly whisk together the butter, eggs, rum, and persimmon puree.
Stir the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients just until combined.
Now fold in the walnuts and dried fruit to the batter. I used 1 cup of dried cranberries and 1 cup of dried apricots.
Bake the bread for about an hour until dark and golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
The finished product...a moist, dense cake studded with walnuts, apricots, and cranberries. The best part was the whole house smelled like Thanksgiving. Happy fall baking!
