December 13, 2012
These cookies hold a special place in my heart. My friend, Bernadette Bagley, baked them for me when I came home from the hospital with my first baby. I raved about them so much that she brought another batch over for baby number two (winter is baby season around here). I hit the compliments/hinting jackpot one Christmas when Bernadette brought over a plate of fresh cookies and tucked the recipe in too.
The cookies are more of the “cakey” variety; the persimmon pulp makes for an incredible texture. Soft, round and spiced to perfection – I know, it looks like a ton of cloves in the recipe, but it tastes amazing! While the Fuyus are crunchy and sweet, these Hachiyas are meant to be consumed when completely softened. When I asked the lady at the farmers market if she had some ripe ones and she pulled out a whole stash of perfectly soft ones. To extract the pulp, just remove the stem, peel off the skin with your fingertips and mash with a fork – easy breezy.
Love you, Bern!
Makes 24 – 30 cookies
Adapted from Bernadette Bagley’s persimmon cookies
Ingredients Note: Personally, I like the taste of golden raisins best, but feel free to use your favorite variety. After reading about red walnuts, I decided to try them out. I love the red color for the Christmas holiday. For these cookies any fresh walnuts will do, our farmers market has some killer ones right now.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1 cup Hachiya persimmon pulp (about 2 large persimmons)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup sugar
½ cup butter, soften
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup chopped red walnuts
1. Dissolve baking soda in persimmon pulp and set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk dry ingredients.
3. Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy, approximately 5 minutes. Beat in the egg and persimmon mixture.
4. Add dry ingredients and gently incorporate. Then fold in raisins and walnuts.
5. Chill, 30 minutes or more.
6. Using a small ice cream scooper or teaspoon, drop the dough onto a greased cookie sheet or Silpat. Bake for 15 minutes until the bottoms of the cookies are golden brown.
7. Cool on a rack. Store in an airtight container up to 5 days.
Note: You can also press a walnut half on the top of the mounds of cookie dough to create more of a finished holiday cookie look or just leave them plain before baking.
