Persimmon Cookies

Persimmons are wonderfully sweet and delicious, making them the perfect ingredient for a batch of these fluffy, tasty cookies.

The consistency of persimmon pulp helps to make a great cookie dough. Along with some incredible spices of cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg in there too...get ready to say hello to your new favorite fall cookie!

Just like ripe bananas become a mush that's great for baking, really ripe persimmons create a pulp that works really well in quickbreads, cake batters, and cookie dough. The sweet, unique flavor sets persimmons apart from other fruits you'd typically bake with.

This wet persimmon cookie dough is an easy drop-and-bake recipe. Made in one bowl, and no fancy equipment required.

This cookie dough is amazing as is, but I include an option to add chocolate chips and nuts into the dough to add extra flavor and crunch. I even share my favorite nuts and chips for this recipe.

Sugar - regular granulated sugar or cane sugar work best in this recipe.

Unsalted butter - I like unsalted butter for this recipe the best, but have also used margarine (vegan butter) or shortening with great success in this recipe.

Persimmon - Wait until your persimmons are really ripe before using them in this recipe. Over-ripe Hichaya persimmons work best for these cookies, but other persimmons work well if just as smushy and ripe.

Flour - Use unbleached all-purpose flour.

Baking soda - Make sure not to use baking powder. Baking soda and baking powder react differently in recipes depending on the acid content of the ingredients.

Cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg - Use dried versions of these spices, which you can easily find in the spice aisle at the grocery store.

Chocolate chips - I usually leave these out because the flavor of the persimmon can be slightly masked when adding chocolate chips. If you are adding them, you can use white, bitter-sweet, semi-sweet, or dark.

Note on chocolate chips: I have found that dark chocolate chips can be a little strong in this recipe, so use a little less.

Nuts - This optional ingredient can be walnuts or pecans, and my preference in this recipe is pecans.

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Cream together your 150 grams (¾ cup) of sugar and ½ cup of butter or shortening until combined in a creamy mixture.

Scrape out the innards of the persimmon, leaving the skin behind. Though edible, it will make your batter less smooth.

Note on pulp consistency: Use a food processor/blender to blend your over-ripe persimmons into a pulp. Blend it, but don't completely puree it as you still want small pieces of persimmon in the cookies.

Add an egg and the blended persimmon pulp to the creamed butter and sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl before adding the dry ingredients.

Add the 200 grams of all-purpose flour (1.5 cups), ¾ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon cloves, and ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg to the mix.

If you're doing the optional addition, add ¾ cup of chocolate chips and ¾ cup of pecans (or another nut of choice).

Mix gently and thoroughly to get the dough to come together.