Grandma’s Persimmon Cookies
This popular persimmon cookies recipe is awesome with a cold glass of milk. When Fall arrives and persimmons are plentiful, make a batch of these to share! It’s an old recipe that Grandma used to make and I still have her original written recipe! We originally published her recipe back in 2011 and have updated the information in this article about what the best persimmons are for her cookies. Enjoy!
Persimmon Cookies Recipe from Grandma
This cookie recipe is direct from my Grandma’s recipe box to you. They are a gloriously soft, moist cookie. Somewhere in-between the texture of a cookie and a fluffy cake, these persimmon cookies are similar to the cookie part of a whoopie pie cookie’s texture, but with the addition of toasted nuts and dried raisins or cranberries.
Grandma will always be one of my greatest kitchen inspirations. Anything she had in her rotation would almost always be a guarantee that I’d like it. Grandma left me with my first memories of cooking, and of trying octopus, and of learning as a five-year-old that I actually liked cooked carrots. If there was something I didn’t think I’d like, she would affectionately but unwaveringly insisted I try them. “You don’t have to eat them all, just try them.” After I found this recipe in Grandma’s recipe box and my mom declared it was one of her favorite cookies that Grandma would make, Diane and I knew we had to make a batch. And then another, and another… Over the years it has become a must have for us every fall & winter.
Video Making Grandma’s Persimmon Cookies
Best Fall and Winter Cookies
Why every fall & winter? That is the season for persimmons. It has always been one of our favorite trees to grow. As it’s beautiful leaves change color then drop in the fall, they reveal the bounty of fruit slowly ripening on it’s branches. As most of our garden in going dormant, the persimmon’s ripening fruit, in it’s stunning orange, fills our hearts.
Different Persimmons for Baking or Eating: Hachiya vs Fuyu
There are two main types of persimmons: astringent and non-astringent. The Hachiya is by far the most common astringent persimmon, and Fuyu is the most common non-astringent variety. The Hachiya persimmons (and other astringent varieties) are nearly in-edible until they are complete ripe. When ripe the flesh will be soft like pudding, but anything less than gooey soft means they are not ready yet so just give them more time to ripen (they’ll ripen fine on the counter). They Fuyu persimmons (and other non-astringent varieties) have a larger range of deliciousness. They’ll still have an astringency when un-ripe, but once they get a nice color, the flavor becomes quite nice, even while they are still firm. You can eat or cook with them like a crunchy apple. Given enough time, they too can soften and become more pudding like (similar to the Hachiya persimmons), but most often they are eaten or cooked while crunchy. Here’s a great article on different varieties of persimmons for all you persimmon-nerds like us.
Best Persimmon for Cookies
What is the best type of persimmon for this recipe? By far, the Hachiya (and similar varieties) are the best kind for the cookies. You want a soft persimmon puree, and the Hachiyas, when ripe are exactly that. 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 Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (113 g) butter , softened
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) baking soda
- 1 cup (260 g) ripe persimmon pulp (about 1-2 very ripe persimmons)
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) kosher salt or sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon (1.25 ml) ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon (1.25 ml) ground clove
- 1 cup (120 g) chopped toasted nuts (walnuts or pecans are our favorite choices)
- 1 cup (145 g) raisins or dried cranberries
Equipment
- Medium Cookie Scoop optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to Bake at 325°F/163°C. Grease or line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Scoop the persimmon pulp from the fruit. (The easiest way we've found to do that is to lift the top leaf/stem section from the persimmon, then use a spoon to scoop out the pulp.) Break up the pulp a little to make the texture less varied. (It will get broken up more when you beat it into the batter. It's ok to have some bite sized intact pieces).
- Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add egg, and then add baking soda and persimmon pulp. Mix well (the mixture may still be a bit clumpy).
- In another bowl combine flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves and whisk together by hand until well combined, about 30 seconds.
- Stir the dry mixture into the wet ingredients until just combined. Stir in the nuts and raisins or cranberries. (Chilling the cookie dough at this point will help give fluffier cookies.)
- Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto the prepared sheet pan (a medium cookie scoop works great for this step). Keep cookies small and far apart as they spread out.
- Bake at 325°F/163°C for 15-18 minutes or until set and light golden around the edges. Allow to cool and serve.
Video
Nutrition Information per Serving
Love for our Persimmon Tree
Our Homegrown Persimmons (these are a giant fuyu that have been allowed to fully ripen). We were able to eat it crunchy like an apple and when they ripened soft, they were perfect for cookies. Update: Our persimmon tree died in 2016 due to the drought. But thankfully we have the photos to remember their gorgeous and delicious memories. We have a new tree (a regular fuyu – not a giant fuyu), that we’ve started and will hopefully take off and be as beautiful as its predecessor.
Wonderful cookies! I used chocolate chips, raisins, and pecans. Thank you for sharing a great persimmon cookie recipe. It was a perfect way to use up the last few persimmons of the season.
I made this recipe yesterday for my family and they LOVED them! I had muffins in mind so I substituted oil for the butter and added about 1/2 cup of milk. I made a dozen muffins and baked the rest of the batter in a bread pan. Thank you for the smiles I received. They made my day!
Made these today. Used black walnuts and dried cranberries. Didn’t refrigerate the dough and they turned out great. Fantastic and thank you!
Hello 🙂 Tank you for sharing such a precious recipe; personally I love persimmon but don’t know many recipes which include them, so I’m happy to learn about this one 🙂 Best r.
Fuyu Persimmons or Hachiya?
If Hachiya, do you wait until they are very very ripe?
I would think this would be the very first thing you address.
Great recipe, have a load of persimmons here which ripened all together so need to use them for something and thought I’d look online for a recipe. Just curious how long you’d chill the mixture?
What is the quickest way to ripen persimmons for baking cookies…Thanks
I couldn’t stop eating the dough. I used 1tbsp each of soy flour and water for an egg substitute. I puréed the pulp after I peeled the skin off using a peeler. Mine didn’t spread flat. They stayed big like little cakes. Really good flavor.
These are Hachiyas not Fuyus, correct?
I figured out a way much faster to get persimmon pulp. Place persimmons in a nylon window screen. Bunch up screen and slightly squeeze and run hand down, pulp and no seeds.
I just discovered you guys, love everything! I was looking for persimmon cookies and found much more. The story about people in service was spot on; I worked in a couple restaurants and my mother and son did too. Thanks for being you and doing what you love. You inspired me.
This is a great recipe. I don’t know if it’s my elevation or what but I had to add about 1/2 cup more flour. The cookies were completely flat. The second time I made it I added pecans instead because I was out of walnuts. I definitely prefer pecans in this recipe. Thanks!
My 2nd cousin, now deceased, had a persimmon tree. Every year she would load our family with them. My mom, now deceased, had this recipe. This is the first year I’ve had persimmons in a long time. I couldn’t find her recipe. Thanks for posting.
Hi Todd& Diane! What kind of flour did you used? Does it have to be a specific kind of flour?
We used all-purpose flour. Different flours (such as cake flour) will affect the texture, but not necessarily adversely.
Can you freeze the pulp of the persimmon until you have a chance to make the cookies?
Hi Dorothy,
We personally haven’t tried freezing the pulp but we’ve read of others having no problems doing it that way. Good luck.
T & D
Just made these cookies from persimmons off the tree in our backyard. There are few things as beautiful as the glistening orange pulp of a perfectly ripe persimmon. These cookies are spectacular and will be a long time family favorite. I added some icing made with confectioner’s sugar and persimmon puree to intensify the flavor. Thank you very much for sharing, and thanks to your mom and grandma for the recipe.