Let’s very quickly clear up any confusion you might have about persimmons. There are probably two types of persimmons that you might run in your search for the fruit this autumn. Fuyu persimmons are the squat little darlings that you can eat when they are hard, think apples. They are great in salads.  Hachiya persimmons are the more bulbous fruit that are best enjoyed super ripe and super soft. Hachiya persimmons are lovely for baking as they are super sweet… like eating nectar… I hear they are dreamy.

 

Now… I hear when you think of Persimmon Pudding think of sweet and super moist bread pudding meets spice cake. If you can… close your eyes and think about a dessert that you grandmother might make in the Fall of 1976, you might not like this dessert as much as you like your grandmother’s chocolate cake, but you liked that she served her Persimmon Pudding with super melty vanilla ice cream… which made everything ok. There you go…. that’s Persimmon Pudding.

Persimmon Pudding
some old school Indiana newspaper 1976, adapted from Joy the Baker
makes 6 to 8 servings



2 cups fresh Hachiya persimmon pulp, removed from the skin
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose GF flour
1 tsp. xanthum gum
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tablespoon melted butter, plus more for buttering dish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9×9 baking dish and set aside
Stir the baking soda and sugar into the persimmon pulp and set aside. This mixture may thicken as it sits…
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and spices. Add to the persimmon mixture all at once and stir until flour is almost completely incorporated.
Whisk together  buttermilk, eggs and butter and add to the persimmon and flour mixture. Batter will be very loose. Pour into the baking dish.
Bake for 1 hour covered with foil, or uncovered. If you make the pudding covered, you’ll have a very wet and moist pudding. If you bake the pudding uncovered, you’ll have a drier pudding topped with a bread like crust. I baked my pudding covered for the first 30 minutes, then uncovered for the last 30 minutes. Bake the pudding until it is firm but still very moist.
Allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving. Best served warm with vanilla ice cream.