Persimmon – Interesting Fruit

It may seem weird that I live in the Pacific Northwest and, to my knowledge, had never tried a persimmon – especially since they grow right here in my valley.

From what I can determine the cause is because there aren’t persimmon farmers in the area.  The persimmon trees are more like our fruit trees – one offs in the backyard.  Once I did go hunting for persimmons I did find them in the local food co-operative so I guess I just hadn’t been paying attention before.

The truth is, I was at a meeting and another participant brought a big brown bag of persimmons to share.  He said his trees were overflowing and he thought we might like some.  I took some to play with.

New to Persimmon?

First, the nutrition facts: Persimmons are high in beta carotine and minerals such as sodium, magnesium, calcium and iron, and studies have found that they also contain twice as much dietary fiber per 100g as apples, plus more of the phenolic compounds thought to ward off heart disease.

Second, there’s actually two types of persimmons and the difference is whether you eat them when they are crisp and firm or soft and mushy.

I discovered these persimmons are fuyu which are better when they are very soft.  The harder they are the more bitter they are . . . we are talking mouth puckering bitter!  But once fully ripe, almost on the verge of seeming rotten, the inside is a jelly like delight.  In fact, we enjoyed just scooping the flesh out and using it like jam and in desserts.  For this persimmon pudding recipe I left the persimmons sitting on the kitchen counter for two weeks.

As I played with the persimmons I did find that slightly ripe (not to the jelly stage) was similar to an apple.  The skin is edible so don’t waste time peeling the persimmon.  I cut it and added the persimmons to salads and even baked slices in a pie.  The persimmon is very versatile and I was pleasantly surprised with the recipes.

The family favorite recipe was persimmon pudding so I’m sharing that here.  Enjoy this fun fruit!

Persimmon Pudding

Ingredients:

• 2-3 very soft persimmons
• 3 Tablespoons honey
• Pinch of sea salt
• 1 cup coconut cream
• 1 Tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Slice persimmons in half.  Use a spoon and scoop out the seeds.  Place the seeded fruit into a blender and puree.  One cup is about right for this recipe.  Add honey and sea salt.  Blend until smooth.
2. Using a mixer on high speed, whip the coconut cream for 3-5 minutes until it becomes fluffy, light, soft peaks.    Add maple syrup and vanilla.  Blend until smooth.
3. Layer the persimmon puree and whipped coconut cream in serving bowls and stir just to slightly mix keeping layers visually separate.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serves 4

*Coconut cream note – if you can’t find coconut cream use full fat coconut milk in a can.  Place the can in the refrigerator overnight.  When you open the can remove the top, solid coconut cream.  Use the remaining liquid in another recipe.

Cookies, cookies, cookies

Okay, I love treats, especially during the holidays.  But, healthy?  No, not usually.

Life’s short so remember the 80-20 rule . . . eat great 80% of the time so you can splurge 20% of the time.

These homemade Valentine’s cookies are closer to a splurge than to healthy, but they aren’t terribly unhealthy either.

And, I needed a bit of fun for the family this week!

Healthy Cookies?

So, if you’re looking for truly healthy Valentine’s Day cookies – this probably isn’t your blog.  But, if you want semi-healthy?  Maybe healthier?  Okay, not horrible for you homemade cookies – these were a ton of fun to make for the whole family!  And each of these Valentine’s cookies has a little surprise inside of strawberries and cream cheese.

If you are crunched for time, you can purchase decent sugar cookie dough but I prefer to make mine homemade.  It ups the health factor a touch.

I like evaporated cane juice for this type of recipe – I mean it IS sugar cookies.  If you can’t find it, please make sure you are using non-GMO sugar.

Don’t get too caught up in the amounts for strawberries and cream cheese.  Buy about equal amounts but make it too your taste.  Any extra can be used for Valentine’s Day crepes or pancakes.  Plus the extra will last about a week in the refrigerator so add it to oatmeal, celery, any fun food!

Valentine’s Cookie Recipe

Cookies

• 1 ¼ c all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
• ¾ tsp arrowroot
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp sea salt
• 2 tbsp pastured butter, melted and cooled
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ c + 2 tbsp evaporated cane juice
• edible colored sugar

Filling

• organic strawberries (fresh or frozen)
• organic cream cheese

1. To prepare the cookies, whisk together the 1 ¼ cups of flour, arrowroot, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg, and vanilla extract. Stir in the evaporated cane juice. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until combined. Shape the dough into two balls.  Tightly cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
2. While the cookie dough is chilling, prepare cookie filling.  If using fresh strawberries – wash, and remove the stems from the strawberries.  Puree the strawberries in a blender or food processor.  If using frozen strawberries – thaw and puree.  Strawberries should ultimately be about the thickness of jam or maybe even a bit runnier.  Measure the strawberries (or truly, I just ‘eyeball’ this step) and add about an equal amount of cream cheese.  Pulse until fully blended.
3. Preheat the oven to 375°F, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
4. On a well-floured surface, roll out one of the chilled dough until 1/8″ thick. Lightly flour a heart-shaped cookie cutter and press into the dough (we used a 3″ one). Place the Valentine’s hearts onto the prepared baking sheets. Reroll the unused dough, and repeat or return to the refrigerator.  Work in small batches though as rerolled dough generally requires a little less cooking time.
5. Place about 1/2 Tablespoon of the filling in the middle of a heart shaped cookies dough.  Make sure no filling is near the sides of the heart.  If you need to use less, that is fine, it’s just important to be able to “seal” the sides of the heart “pouch”.
6. Place another heart shaped cookies dough directly on top of filling as close to covering the bottom heart shaped cookies dough as possible.  Carefully “seal” the two cookies together but pressing all around the outside edges of the cookie.  Make sure all filling remains between the two cookies or it will leak out and make a mess.  You may need to remove a little filling until you find the precise amount for your heart shape.
7. Sprinkle with edible colored sugar.
8. Bake the cookies at 375°F for 14-18 minutes.  Remember that the rerolled cookies may bake faster so keep an eye on them.  They should be just slightly golden.
9. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

And, of course, it includes peanut butter!

If you’ve been following along, you know I’ve been on a peanut butter role lately.  Well, it is National Peanut Butter Lover’s Month and all!  I’ve been hitting the western and southern part of the country teaching people how to make their own peanut butter.  It’s so easy and delicious.  If you missed the recipe and info – here’s the link.

Along the way, my friends at Nut Fusions asked if I could create some fun savory recipes using their peanut butter.  Challenge totally accepted!

Peanut butter ROCKS in hot cocoa!

I’ve been working on this project for a while – recipes aren’t near as easy to create as most people think.  Here, the weather started turning wintery and, although I was supposed to be making savory recipes, their Holé Molé  Peanut Butter kept calling to me to be made into a drink.

I gave into my creative need and what came out was a creamy, slightly sweet, Mexican mocha type drink the whole family loved.  I’ve now served it to others as well . . . it’s a hit that is unlike anything anyone has ever tried!

Use Your Own Peanut Butter if needed

The Nut Fusions Holé Molé  Peanut Butter totally makes this hot cocoa drink incredible.  But, not wanting to promote anything processed I tried this with the homemade peanut butter too and it was great.  To get the full version without an additional purchase, just coarsely grind a few coffee beans and add them to the mix plus a pinch of cayenne.  Either way, this hot cocoa peanut butter drink is already a staple in our household this winter.  Even our exchange student from Ecuador thought it was unique and fun!

Mexican Hot Cocoa Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp honey
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 Tbsp water
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ cup Nut Fusions Holé Molé Peanut Butter
• 2 cups milk or milk alternative
• ¼ tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a small saucepan.  Bring to boil, stirring constantly.
2. Reduce heat and add milk.  Stirring constantly heat through.  DO NOT BOIL.
3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
4. Pour in mugs and top with whipped cream or mini marshmallows.