2010 Gratitude Challenge-November 10

Today I am thankful for getting to try new things and having the confidence in my cooking abilities to alter a new recipe and make it my own.  Wow!  That was a mouthful, wasn’t it?

As you all know, I received some persimmons in my Bountiful Baskets order this past week.  We had never tried persimmons before, and I was trying to figure out what to do with them.  My sister in law added some to a fruit salad and that was ok.  It wasn’t my favorite, but it was edible.  So I knew I wanted to find something else to do with them and I wanted it to be special.

After perusing the internet and several recipe sites for quite a while, I finally settled on making a Persimmon Bread.  I knew I had enough for that.  Although, I have to admit that the cheesecake was calling my name.  I just didn’t have enough to make that.  So a sweet bread it was going to be.  As I pondered over several different recipes, I finally decided to just jump in and tweak the different recipes and make my own.  And I wanted to add some Craisins in it.  That just sounded good to me.  The result was the most delicious and fabulous sweet bread we have ever had.  That is saying something, since we are big fans of sweet breads.  In fact, my son even suggested that if they had a case of persimmons for sale this week, that I should buy them so we could have this bread all year long.  I actually have to agree.  I am really, really hoping that we get them again this Saturday.  I really NEED to make this again and again.

For those of you who are interested, here is the recipe for my Persimmon Bread.

Brenda’s Persimmon Craisin Bread

1 cup persimmon pulp

2 tsp. baking soda

3 cups white sugar

1 cup olive oil

4 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp. salt

2/3 cup water

3 cups all purpose flour

1- 6oz pkg Craisins (Or about 1 1/3 cups)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F or 175 degrees C.  Grease 3  medium or standard size loaf pans.  Be sure to line these with baking parchment paper.  This is extremely important!  Without the grease AND the parchment paper, the bottom of the bread will stick to the bottom of the pan, no matter how well you think you have greased it.  Trust me on this one.

In a small bowl, stir together the persimmon pulp and the baking soda.  Let it stand for about 5 minutes to thicken the pulp.  (It almost solidifies again, kind of like jello jigglers, so don’t be alarmed.  You’ll just break it up a bit before you add it to the batter.)

In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, oil, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  Blend until smooth.  Add in the persimmon pulp and water, alternating with flour.  Fold in the Craisins.  Divide the batter into the prepared pans, filling each pan about 2/3 full.

Bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

What are you thankful for today?