Persimmons! Who knew? Certainly not me. I'd never even seen one until my boss brought some in from his tree this week. "What do you put them in?" I asked. He told me his Japanese mother used to put them in cookies. After a bit of Googling (is that a word?) I came up with a suitable recipe. You can make it as is, or sub out a couple of ingredients to make it allergen free. The version of these excellent fall cookies I made was gluten, dairy, soy free and was delicious.
I took them in to work, where they were gobbled up immediately. Gonna have to make some more of these soft, spicy, delicious cookies with the rest of these persimmons! I don't think anybody will mind.
INGREDIENTS
2 ripe persimmons, pureed
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour (or all purpose gluten free flour)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup white sugar (or turbinado sugar)
1/2 cup butter (or butter sub such as Smart Balance)
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
DIRECTIONS
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2.Dissolve baking soda in persimmon pulp and set aside.
3.Sift flour, spices and salt together, set aside.
4.Cream together butter or margarine and sugar until fluffy, beat in egg and persimmon. Stir in dry ingredients. Stir in nuts and raisins.
5.Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes.
