This Persimmon Nut Bread recipe comes from James Beard.
Beard shaped American cooking for 40 years. He wrote two dozen cookbooks, wrote a weekly syndicated cooking column, operated an eponymous cooking school in Greenwich Village and lived an altogether colorful life.
In 1990, Carl Jerome, writing for The Washington Post, described Beard as “a man who bordered on becoming a national folk hero. He read Dostoyevsky at the age of 6. He studied singing with Caruso’s voice teacher in London. He acted in Hollywood movies and once on Broadway. He slept on black satin sheets in elegant European bordellos. He picnicked with Alice B. Toklas.”
When he died in 1985, The New York Times ran this obituary : NYT Obituary for James Beard. It is worth a read.
This delicious Persimmon Nut Bread recipe produces a sweet bread that is moist and delicious. It got rave reviews from Blue Cayenne’s neighborhood team of testers.
Persimmon Nut Bread
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 t. salt
- 2 t. baking soda
- 1 t. ground nutmeg
- 2 C. sugar (The original recipe gave a range of sugar quantities for this bread. Use 2 to 2 1/2 cups of sugar at your discretion. I used 2 cups.)
- 1 C. melted unsalted butter (cooled to room temperature)
- 4 large eggs (at room temperature--lightly beaten)
- 2/3 C. Cognac (or bourbon or whiskey)
- 2 C. persimmon puree (The original recipe called for Hachiya persimmons. I substituted very ripe Fuyu persimmons in my batter.)
- 2 C. walnuts (or pecans) toasted and chopped
- 2 C. raisins (or diced dried fruits such as apricots, cranberries or dates)
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Step 2 Prepare two 9-inch loaf pans by buttering them and lining the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper.
- Step 3 Sift flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg and sugar together in a large bowl.
- Step 4 Make a large well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the butter, eggs, Cognac, persimmon puree. Stir to mix. Add the raisins and nuts.
- Step 5 Bake for one hour or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake.
- Step 6 Sprinkle some powdered sugar on top and serve.
This recipe is adapted from one that appears in James Beard’s book, Beard on Bread. The book is available here.
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