This month's challenge was color. I'm not sure I achieved it, but I tried. Persimmons have a deep orange color that definitely warms up the color of the muffins. The seed envelopes, which are a brighter orange color and showed up well in the raw batter, however, turned darker during baking, so are not visible. But don't count out the bits of cranberry!
I love these muffins -- I've made them several times. As I recall, the first time I made them I misread the quantity of persimmon pulp and used twice as much, but otherwise followed the recipe. The results were dense and rich and chewy and incredibly delicious. Since then, I have always included extra pulp (until today), but I've tinkered with the rest of the recipe considerably. I really have to question the amount of sugar and butter in the original and whether I ever followed that instruction. It's a lot! Regardless, this is a great recipe no matter how it's done! One of my favorites.
The recipe calls for 18 muffins, but I made 12. My changes are in italics and strike out. Here's what I used:
1 cup persimmon puree (preferably Hachiya)
1 11/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 4 tablespoons salted butter, room temperature
1¼ 1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
2 eggs
11/3 cup all-purpose flour (3/4 cup white, remainder whole wheat)
1/2 3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Zest of one orange
1 cup walnut pieces
3/4 cup currants dried, sweetened cranberries
Heat oven to 325 degrees and grease muffin tins. In a small bowl, mix the persimmon puree with the baking soda; set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until mixture is creamy and smooth. Add eggs and beat well. Sift together the flours, salt, cinnamon, and ginger. Add to the butter, along with the persimmon, and beat until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, almond extract, lemon juice, and zest until combined, then stir in walnuts and cranberries. Fill each muffin cup and bake 45 minutes, or until a wood pick comes out clean when inserted into the center of a muffin. Remove from the muffin pans and let cool on racks.
I had to use vinegar in place of lemon juice, but that wouldn't have affected anything. And I didn't have orange zest, so I used 1/4 teaspoon orange extract, which I couldn't detect. (I didn't bother to check substitution rates for extract to zest -- it probably is at least 1/2 teaspoon to one orange. I was going for just a hint of orange.) I used two defrosted persimmons that have been in my freezer for two years, unwrapped. They turned into a liquid pool once they defrosted -- shapeless, deflated lumps of pulp in a sweet syrup. I used only the pulp, but I lost flavor and sweetness by excluding the juice. I probably should have added it, since it was original to the fruit, but the pulp was already so wet.
The batter is quite light and fluffy and seems like it would rise into stable, tall muffins, but actually they always come out flat-topped and looking a bit melted. I overfilled the tins, which created a crispy/chewy ring where it overflowed -- delicious! This time I had some trouble getting them out. I had to break a piece of the outer ring off so I could get a knife down and pry them out.
Conclusion: These are indescribably delicious, especially warm out of the oven. As prepared, they are plenty sweet, and buttery enough to leave your fingers a little oily. If made per the original recipe, I think they should probably be served warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream!
Original recipe: "Persimmon Muffins" via The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham
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