Persimmon Bread with Nuts and Dried Fruit
It’s always exciting when persimmons are in season. Even more so after a long wait for the astringent persimmon varieties to finally ripen. They’re pulp is like soft, sweet gold and perfect for making our persimmon bread recipe with nuts and dried fruit.
Grandma’s Persimmon Cookies Made into a Loaf
For years we’ve been making my grandma’s recipe for persimmon cookies. So soft, tender and delicious. We’ve been wanting for quite a while to make quick bread version of the cookie and after a bunch of testing came up with this amazing persimmon bread. It is tender and moist, just like another one of grandma’s great recipes, her banana bread. We loaded up the bread with spices, toasted nuts, and dried fruit. Any of those can be changed or left out if desired. Grandma would love it. We certainly do.
Video: Watch How to Make Persimmon Bread Recipe
Ideal Texture of Persimmon Pulp for Persimmon Bread Recipe
What is the best type of persimmon for this persimmon bread recipe? By far, the Hachiya (and similar astringent persimmon varieties) are the best kind for the cookies. But you need the fruit to be super ripe. You want a soft persimmon puree, and the Hachiyas, when ripe are exactly that. Texture should be similar runny jam. Just pop off the top and scoop out the flesh. It should be so soft, you barely need to mix it to have a puree texture (a few smallish lumps are fine in the cookies). You can use the Fuyu types if they are given the chance to ripen up really soft, but they won’t always ripe properly that soft if they are picked too soon (which often happens when picked commercially).
Persimmon Bread
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups (170 g) cake flour (or all-purpose flour-156g)
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 ml) ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) ground clove
- 1 cup (200 g) sugar
- 1/2 cup (113 g) butter , softened
- 1 cup (260 g) persimmon pulp
- 2 large eggs
- 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) vanilla extract
- 1 cup (120 g) chopped toasted nuts , optional (walnuts or pecans are our favorite choices)
- 1/2 cup (70 g) dried cranberries , or other dried fruit
- 3-4 thin persimmon slices , optional garnish when serving
Equipment
- Parchment Paper optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C.
- Lightly grease a 4.5″ x 8.5″ loaf pan. For easy release, add a wide strip of parchment paper the length and up the long sides of the loaf pan.
- Scoop out ripe and soft persimmon flesh. If it's in chunks, then mash it up with a spoon to give it the consistency of a runny jam.
- Sift or whisk together the 1 1/4 cups cake flour (170g) or all-purpose flour (156g), 1 teaspoon (5ml) baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml) salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5ml) cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml) nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml) clove until well combined. Set aside.
- Cream together the 1 cup (200g) sugar & 1/2 cup (114g) butter until light & fluffy (at least a couple minutes).
- Mix in 1 cup (260g) of persimmon pulp then beat in the 2 eggs and 1 Tablespoon (15ml) vanilla extract until combined.
- Fold or gently stir in the flour mixture and optional toasted nuts and optional dried fruit until just combined. Don’t over-mix. We’ll almost always just mix by hand, but if you want use your mixer, just mix until it is nearly combined and then finish the last few strokes by hand.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
- Bake at 350°F/175°C for about 50 minutes – 1 hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the loaf.
- Allow to cool for about 10 minutes then remove the loaf from the pan by loosening the edges, then lift out of the pan (if using parchment) or loosen the bottom and pop out.
- Optional – We like to add a few slices of persimmon on top of the bread when serving so everyone knows it’s a persimmon bread (and not any other type of quick bread like banana, carrot, or zucchini bread). We love it served warm with a little butter or some more persimmon pulp just like you would a jam.
Notes
- The butter and sugar wasn’t creamed together well enough. If they aren’t creamed together enough, the batter won’t have enough aeration, making the batter too dense and not allowing it to bake all the way through the center. This sometimes happens to us when we use a hand mixer and aren’t thorough enough with the mixing. It doesn’t happen as often when we use a stand mixer, but it still can if you don’t give it a good couple minutes of mixing on medium-high speed.
- Your oven was too hot. Especially older ovens will often fall out of calibration.
Video
Nutrition Information per Serving
Freezing Leftover Persimmon Bread
Yes, this persimmon bread recipe is great for freezing! We froze leftover and when we were ready to eat, we placed it out at room temperature to thaw. When ready to serve, we warmed up the slices in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Then spread some butter on top. YUM!
Great Gifts for Holidays : Sweet Bread Loaves
We love gifting loaves of persimmon bread for the holidays. They’re a unique way to sharing warm and fresh baked goods beyond the traditional banana bread or zucchini bread. Or try our Orange spiced chocolate banana bread, Grandma’s banana bread recipe and zucchini bread recipe for a variety of gifts to share. Everyone loves homemade sweet bread. Hope our persimmon bread recipe becomes one of your family favorites.
