bourbon and brown butter persimmon walnut bread
Honestly, persimmons are a pretty weird fruit if you’re not familiar with them. I suggest familiarizing yourself with this fall/winter fruit quickly so you can enjoy treats like these walnut breads. I might piss a few people off by saying that I prefer persimmon breads to banana breads; one of the main reasons being the local availability of persimmons vs. bananas. Thanks to Chinese that essentially built our city, Sacramento backyards are peppered with abundant persimmon and citrus trees. This recipe can easily be doubled, but since I’m not baking for the masses this year, I enjoy it for a couple mini loaves, 6 oversized muffins, or 12 cupcake sizes.
There are two types of persimmons - ones that you can eat off the tree like an apple (Fuyu, Cinnamon, etc) and ones that need to ripen until softened (Hachiyas). When I say ripen until soft, I mean immensely. You want them to produce goop! If you want your persimmons to ripen faster, stick them in a paper bag with an apple (which is also conveniently in season) to expose them to natural ethylene fumes. Ask your farmer if they’ve got any soft persimmons and often times they’ll carefully pull out a box of swaddled, ripe persimmons, kept safely stashed away from the pokers, prodders, squeezers and children of the farmer’s market.
Persimmons should be softened until they have nearly turned to pulp
This recipe calls for a bit of dried fruit. I use diced hoshigaki persimmon, but since it’s really hard to find you can sub in whatever dried fruit you like (or leave it out completely).
Makes
6 oversized muffins / 2 mini loaves / 12 muffins
Ingredients
1 3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1//2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
2 eggs (room temp)
1/3 cup bourbon
1 cup persimmon pulp (3 or 4 persimmons)
1 cup toasted and chopped walnuts
1 cup dried fruit
6 teaspoons EVOO
Method
Preheat the oven to 350°. The first step is to brown the butter so that it can be set aside to cool before mixing it in to the rest of the recipe. In a small pot over medium heat melt the whole stick of butter. Once melted, turn the heat to high and begin to gently swirl the pan over the heat. Once the butter has become very frothy it should smell nutty and pick up an amber color. Immediately transfer to a heat proof container so the residual heat of the pan doesn’t burn the butter. Set aside to cool while you handle the rest of your shit.
Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set that aside as well. Prepare your baking dishes by distributing the 6 teaspoons of EVOO evenly among each dish, then get to greasin’.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the two eggs and sugar until pale and kinda fluffy. Stir in the bourbon and persimmon pulp until smooth. Slowly whisk in the melted browned butter then start incorporating the flower mix, a little at a time. Switch to a rubber spatula to fold in the chopped nuts and dried fruit. Bring the batter to the prepared baking dishes and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test.
These are best when served fresh out of the oven with a spread of softened butter. I’ve had great success with slicing the breads and frying them in a pan a bit with even more browned butter.
