Nourishing Meals by Mackey McNeill
Persimmon Pudding
I recently celebrated my 27th anniversary with my husband, Barry. In true McNeill-Schlimme fashion, we celebrated farm-style with a farm-to-table meal: green beans, potatoes, and ham served alongside cornbread. And for dessert? Persimmon pudding.
Barry planted persimmon trees over 10 years ago, but they didn’t produce fruit until last year. In my attempts to figure out what to do with the fruit, I stumbled upon (and tweaked) a New York Times recipe. The flavor is subtle and inviting and the texture is airier than most puddings I’ve tried. It’s an absolute winner!
4 tablespoons butter, melted, plus more for the dish
2 cups of persimmons, trimmed and milled into a pulp
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1.5 cups all-purpose flour or gluten-free flour mix
2.5 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup heavy cream
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Dash of cinnamon
Heat oven to 325 degrees and grease a 2-quart baking dish with butter.
Starting with 2-3 lbs. of ripe persimmons, run the fruit through a food mill until you have two cups of persimmon pulp. Absent a food mill, de-seed by hand and mash through a mesh strainer.
Combine eggs, sugar, and persimmon pulp in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until well mixed. Stir baking soda into buttermilk, then add to persimmon mixture and beat to combine.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour and baking powder. Beat flour mixture into persimmon mixture in three batches, alternating with the cream, beginning and ending with the flour.
Stir in melted butter, salt, vanilla, and cinnamon. Transfer batter to your prepared dish and bake until pudding is set: 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes.
Adapted from NYT Cooking’s ‘Persimmon Pudding’ recipe.