persimmon bread
persimmon bread
(tasted better than it looks here)
3-1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground mace
2 or 2-1.2 cups granulated sugar, or to taste
1 cup melted butter
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup Cognac or Bourbon whiskey
2 cups persimmon purée (the pulp of about 4 medium, very ripe persimmons – not necessary to peel)
2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
2 cups raisins (optional) *
Sift all five dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Then make a well in the center and add the melted butter, eggs, Cognac, persimmon purée, and if you like, the walnuts and raisins. Mix dough until quite smooth. Butter and flour four 3-to-4-cup charlotte molds (we used two 9-inch rectangular pans) about three-fourths full, and bake for 1 hour at 350° F.
* (If you substitute chopped apricot for the raisins, as we did, the result is more like a light fruitcake.)
From “Beard on Bread” by James Beard, Ballantine Books, 1973, pages 155-156.