Persimmon Bread

A recipe by James Beard, on David Labovitz blog is something!  A decade ago, I did not know what a persimmon was, I almost mistook it for an exotic tomato. I was certainly missing something, it is one of my favorite fruits now.

Last week I got a lot of persimmon and if am not mistaken I think it is the Fuyu and unlike the Hachiya, it can be eaten when firm.  I wanted to bake a dessert with persimmon and after going back and forth with cake, pudding, bars and bread. 

 There was really nothing to think…I had all the ingredients, the outcome was amazing. we had it with coffee, we had it with mulled wine and we had it with maple syrup and crushed cloves. I did not change anything in the recipe. The amazing part of the recipe is that James Beard does not mention the exact amount of sugar for this recipe. David's suggestion, "Although I recommend using the higher amount of sugar, feel free to use whichever quantity you’d like…after all, you have permission from the granddaddy of all cooks, James Beard himself." I did not want to risk messing up with this recipe so I took exactly the same amount as David Lebovitz.

Using the higher amount of sugar will produce a moister and, of course, sweeter bread.

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground nutmeg
2 to 2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup unsalted melted butter
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup Cognac, bourbon or whiskey
2 cups persimmon puree
2 cups walnuts or pecan, chopped
2 cups raisin, apricots, dates or cranberries.

Directions:
Butter 2 loaf pans. Line the bottoms with a piece of parchment paper or dust with flour and tap out any excess. 

Preheat oven to 350*F degrees.

Sift the first 5 dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center then stir in the butter, eggs, liquor, persimmon puree then the nuts and raisins.

Bake 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. I halved the recipe and it worked well.