Dec 14, 2010

Persimmon Spice Cookies

Persimmons are a very Asian fruit. So proudly Japan and China Asian that they forgot to tell even their own South Asians Indians about them. I had not heard about this fruit until a couple of years ago when we moved into our house. The previous owners had planted the Persimmon and Guava trees and these are pretty solid fully grown trees now with a lot of fruit. 

These Persimmons in my back yard are the 'Fuyu' or the non-astringent variety. These don't have to be really ripe and can be eaten when they are orange and a little crunchy too. They kind of taste like apples but with a little tartness to it. 

This post has been lying in my drafts for a loooong time now. Actually as I write this today, my tree in the back yard is almost bare with all the leaves falling. And so I promised my tree that I will publish the tasty persimmon cookies post before the last leaf falls from the tree. A little tribute to thank my tree for an awesome season this year! Thank you Persi baby! Meet you again next year. I'll have cookies for you and then maybe cookies with you. (And I don't mean you and me sharing cookies)



Here's my all green tree - this was actually a couple of months ago. You can't really see all the fruits here - they kind of form in big bunches and hide well behind the leaves. It was very interesting to see that. When you walk up to and look into the tree, you can see big bunches of fruit all in a little cluster.  Peekaboo.


I see you.


Here's a little sample of what I found hidden.


I love the color of these babies.


This one was really orange and ripe.


I've always wanted to make something with this fruit. I came across this site with a few good persimmon recipes and instantly decided to give the Persimmon Cookies II a try. The recipe was simple enough and I had almost all the ingredients with me. But I modified some of the ingredients to customize a little bit.

So, getting on with the ingredient list here -

All purpose flour - 2 cups
Persimmon Pulp - 1 1/2 cup
Brown Sugar - 1 cup
Butter - 1 cup
Egg - 1
Baking Soda - 1 tsp
Spice Mix - 1/2 tsp. This is a dry powder of cinnamom, cloves and cardamom.
Apricots, Almonds, Chocolate Chips and Raisins - about 1/4 cup each.
Finely chopped ginger - 1 tbsp


Chop up the persimmon and throw away the core..just like apples. Look at these lines in the middle here.


And then further chop into small pieces.


And then using a blender, puree and make persimmon pulp. I used about 3 persimmons for this much pulp. Add a few drops of water - just so your blender will get going. Not too much water.


So, that's about 1 3/4 cup. I actually used only 1 1/2 cup for the cookies.


When my parents were visiting, they got me this absolutely heavenly smelling small gift box of spices. These were fresh spices from Kerala and it was like I was surrounded by a whole spice forest. Oh, the smell when you just open the box. It is so stress reliving. People should just keep a box of this in their work cubicles and for 3 mins a day - they should just open this and smell. No more stress.


I love the flat cinnamon in the box. Just make a dry mix of some cinnamon, a few cloves and a few elaichi pods (cardamom).


These will all be additions to the persimmon batter. Again, you don't have to have these things - improvise with what you have or add stuff that you want to taste in your cookie.


And the fresh chopped ginger - also brings the whole earthiness to the cookie.You've got to eat it to believe it!


Add the butter and brown sugar to a mixing bowl and beat on low speed until all the butter is incorporated well with the sugar. Make sure the butter is in room temperature and soft or even a little melted before mixing.


Add 1 egg and beat well until combined. If you are a no-egg person, skip it and add maybe a little baking powder along with the soda.


Now, pour the persimmon pulp to the butter mix.
Beat on medium speed until well combined.


For the dry mix, take about 2 cups of all purpose flour and add 1 tsp of baking soda to it.


Then, add the wonderful, flavorful spice mix - about 1/2 tsp. Don't add a lot - you don't want the spice to overpower the persimmon flavor. This 1/2 tsp just enhances the flavor and adds the needed oomph to the cookies.



Mix the dry flour mix with the persimmon/butter mix.


And there's the batter.


Now, throw in the extras...the apricots, chocolate chips, almonds and raisins.


Batter is so ready now for the final show.


Take little spoonfuls and spoon on to a baking tray and bake in a preheated oven at 350F for about 10 mins or until you see them turn golden and they look done. Go ahead..enjoy with your little toothpick poke too.


My heart skipped a beat when I saw how pretty these looked and how great they smelled.


Is that a good texture or what? And with little biteable pieces of good stuff inside. Perfect.


Cool them on a rack. Eat them warm. And share them with your neighbors. I did and they loved it too.


I have to mention though - this cookie tastes great when its warm. When its cooled down, the spices take over.. which some might like. But when warm, the spices take the back seat and let the persimmon rule up front. And that was a really good thing. Just like cinnamon rolls, some things are meant to be eaten warm. And this is the big daddy of that family.


From here 


To here
Oh what joy!



Enjoy! Peace out!

25 comments:

  1. All I can say is awesome, awesome and awesome. Loved the bush in full bloom of persimmons, never tasted it. Loved the color of the fruit too. It would be unfair if I do not mention about the click of the gorgeous babe.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cookies are so lovely. Never heard of this fruit and thanks for sharing..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love this recipe. Gorgeous end result. I can smell the aroma of freshly baked cookies. I liked the way you have the source of the main ingredient - the persimmon tree in your backyard. It gives a personal touch to the post. Picking home grown produce from the garden gives the dish a pleasant compliment. The procedure of making the cookie is very detailed with the pictures. It gives beginning bakers a confidence to use the oven.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks so delicious and colorful..

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow Anu the cookies are just perfect.. absolutely loved the flavors u played with. Looks yumm and persimmon is my fav fruit ever and I made persimmon bread came out good. Will try this for sure...I will surely get the tips for growing the persimmon tree in future.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love persimmons very much, cookies looks scrumptious..

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love persimmon. Last week one of my friend baked a cake with the same and it was yummy yumm. The cookies looks sooo good..I am craving to have some right now, Anu...

    ReplyDelete
  8. wow Anu, love your pictures as always. Wow, never knew you could have persimom cookies, now I do :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a delicious looking cookie and what beautiful illustration of method - Wah!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Kay - Oak... soon to be Kay - FolDecember 14, 2010 at 10:20 AM

    I was wondering how the persimons ended when I saw the gauva pictures yesterday. Hubs here loves persimon. will try this one day. Actually I could almost taste the cookie. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Delicious cookies,persimmon is one of my fav fruit.I can imagine how yummy it would have tasted with the nuts and spices.

    ReplyDelete
  12. wow ,looks yummy,thanks for posting ,i am goin to try it only now...

    ReplyDelete
  13. you won't believe it! just last week, there was his huge-ass basket of persimmons TH got from his work and I was wondering if we could make cookies out of them!! We ended up eating them fresh and giving away the rest but.. oooh, what a coincidence!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Fruite are so cute looking and the cookies are delectable... :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. I wish I was there and could eat a few of them....they look so yummy !!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Came here from Nag's blog and these cookies are making me hungry right now. I love the taste of fully ripe persimmons , they are available here in India ( being grown here too ) and i might try these some day.

    Wonderful blog i must say.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hello there Mriganayani, first time at your blog, loved your recipes and more importantly how you write from your heart . Congrats on your blog anniversary, wishing you many more. Are you from bayarea ?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Those sound quite delicious. I'm not very familiar with the persimmon, I've only had them once before...but your description sounds great.

    ReplyDelete
  19. what atempting ,yummy cookies and the fruit pic are looing beautiful step by ste recipe is make us easy to make. 1st time here wonderful recipes and lovely space
    do visit my site

    ReplyDelete
  20. Thanks for the picture of Persimmon tree, never seen before. Cookies look crisp and easy to bake. Would love to try and share with neighbors (if there are some leftovers :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Yesterday my neighbor gave me a bag of Persimmon and I was looking for a recipe to finish the persimmon.Now I know what to make.Maybe I can share a few cookies with the neighbors as you did.Lovely pictures,yummylooking cookies and a beautiful tree.

    ReplyDelete
  22. tried your pineapple rasam yumm!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  23. These cookies reminded me of aloo bondas in a couple of pics, and now Im craving for some, at 1:30am, on a crazy weeknight. And its all b'cos of you!! On a serious note, I love that you used the persimmon's from your own garden to make these scrummy stuff! Lucky you, with that lush backyard garden :) Im all green-eyed!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for stopping by! Let me know what you think.