A sweet and spiced persimmon cookies recipe with cranberries, white chocolate chips, and pecans. A perfect soft and moist treat to make during the holidays!
As the holiday season comes to an end, it doesn’t mean that the flavors of the winter have to! My sweet friend Amy brought me some gorgeous Fuyu persimmons from her grandparent’s tree. Amy told me that they were the perfect ripeness for baking, so I was excited to try a persimmon cookie recipe to highlight the honey-like flavor from these delicious fruits.
These cookies pack warm winter spices like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. The texture is like a soft and moist muffin with slightly crispy edges on the outside, a perfect compliment for the ripe persimmons.
The persimmons were soft to the touch and carried an intense and delicious sweetness. It was easy to scoop out the pulp from the very ripe fruit.
I pureed the pulp in the blender for a few seconds to make sure that the mash was consistent in texture before adding it to the dough.
When selecting the type of sugar to use in your recipes like granulated sugar and brown sugar, the kind you choose will affect the cookie texture.
Granulated sugar typically yields a crispier cookie, whereas brown sugar is a humectant, retaining moisture and producing a chewier cookie. I used both kinds for this persimmon cookie recipe to give texture properties of both.
Portion scoops are extremely helpful to consistently measure out drop cookies (soft dough scooped into mounds for baking), such as the persimmon cookie recipe or chocolate chip cookies.
I used a size 50 portion scoop, which is 5/8 ounce or approximately 1.25 tablespoon size. The number of the scoop determines the number of servings in each quart of a mixture. For a number 50 scoop, one quart = 50 servings.
The beautiful dark orange flesh gave the dough a pretty golden color to the cookie. I added a little bit of rolled oats and pecans for more texture, as well as dried cranberries and white chocolate chips to enhance the sweetness of the persimmon.
More persimmon recipes
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #jessicagavin on Instagram. I’d love to see what you come up with. Cheers, friends!
To ensure consistent cookies batch to batch
1) Use a portion scoop to achieve same sized cookies, 2) Uniformly place and space the dough on the sheet pan, 3) Uniform baking time will be achieved by maintaining size and placement of the cookies.
Persimmon Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 ounces unsalted butter, (1/2 cup) softened
- 5 1/4 ounces granulated sugar, (3/4 cup)
- 1 3/4 ounces brown sugar, (1/4 cup)
- 1 large egg
- 8 ounces persimmon pulp, (1 cup) puréed (3-4 very ripe and soft Fuyu persimmons)
- 10 ounces all-purpose flour, (2 cups)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- 1 ounce old fashioned oats, (1/3 cup)
- 1/8 teaspoon allspice
- 3 ounces dried cranberries, (1/2 cup)
- 2 ounces white chocolate chips, (1/4 cup)
- 2 ounces pecans, (1//4 cup) roughly chopped
Instructions
- Using the paddle attachment on your mixer, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and mix on medium speed until combined.
- Add 1 cup of persimmon pulp purée and mix until combined
- Sift the dry ingredients together; flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Mix the dry ingredients together, and then slowly add into the mixer on low speed. Mix until just combined.
- Blend in the oats, dried cranberries, white chocolate chips, and pecans. Mix on low speed until combined, approximately 1-2 minutes.
- Portion the dough (about 1 1/4 tablespoons) onto a parchment paper lined sheet pan. Use your fingers or a spoon to flatten the dough into 1/4-inch thick cookies, the dough will be slightly sticky.
- Top with extra cranberries, white chocolate or pecans if desired. Make sure that the cookies are at least 2 inches apart.
- Bake at 325°F until almost firm and golden brown, approximately 14 to 16 minutes.
- Cool on a sheet tray for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.
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YolanDa Gliko says
November 12, 2014 at 2:16 pmThe persimmon recipe i just tried was a hit in my home! Its different than the one i have been making for many years. I founD that i can use Ripe fuyu and hachiya persimmons for cookies. Really good cookies.
Amie Wills says
November 26, 2014 at 3:00 pmI love you so much for sharing this recipe. I’m blessed with a persimmon tree in my backyard and I decided this year I would actually bake with them. this was a fantastic recipe to add to the collection. I made the “mistake” of sharing them at church and they were gone before I knew it – everyone loved them!
Jessica Gavin says
November 28, 2014 at 8:47 pmWow, thanks Amie! What a wonderful comment to receive, I’m so glad that you enjoyed the cookie recipe. You are lucky to have a persimmon tree in your backyard!
Jen says
December 22, 2016 at 9:55 amThis was one of the best recipes I’ve turned out!I had to make a few tweaks due to supply issues, but each turned out just dandy! Instead of almonds, I did raw, unsweetened large coconut flakes. Also, I only had about a 1.2 cup of persimmon puree, so I combined it with banana puree to round out the full cup. And lastly, I did not have any white chocolate chips, but honestly, I think that they would have been too sweet with chips added. I also made a quick date/raisin/papaya jelly on the stove, and topped the cookies with that .I almost died when they came out of the oven. Simply heaven!!!
Jessica Gavin says
December 22, 2016 at 9:19 pmThank you Jen! I love how you improvised with the bananas, so smart!
Jennifer DeLoach says
October 5, 2018 at 9:59 amSounds great! How did you make the date/raisin/papaya jelly?
Alicia Brewin says
October 13, 2018 at 8:54 amyour brown sugar says 1 1/2 cups then it says 1/4cup. which is correct?
Jessica Gavin says
October 14, 2018 at 2:22 pmThanks for the catch alicia! It is 1 3/4 ounces or 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Sorry for the confusion!
Maryjo Walker says
November 29, 2018 at 6:56 pmWhat changes are necessary for high altitude(5,280)
Jessica Gavin says
November 29, 2018 at 7:48 pmHi Maryjo- For high altitude baking of cookies I would start with increasing the oven temperature to 350 degrees F to set the structure of the baked good. Check at 10 minutes for doness and keep baking as needed. Let me know how that goes!
Audrina Diocson says
November 9, 2018 at 4:42 pmCan I make this keto friendly, switching AP flour to Almond flour, sugar to erythritol and the oatmeal to flaxseed meal?
Jessica Gavin says
November 10, 2018 at 5:53 pmHi Audrina- I haven’t tried those substitutions before but it’s worth a try! The batter might be a little wetter, but let me know how it goes.
Anneliese Cornale says
December 18, 2018 at 2:41 pmI made these cookies today and they were a hit.. I made mine smaller using a heaping teaspoon of dough and to get a flatter and crunchier cookie I flattened with the spoon! Love the mixture a lot!
Jessica Gavin says
December 18, 2018 at 9:09 pmThank for the great tips Anneliese! Happy to hear that you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Kate says
December 25, 2018 at 8:55 pmHi! Happy Christmas! I made these today and they’re delicious. Some things to note: They needed more time, maybe 18 minutes. The first batch came out pretty mushy so I let them go for another 4 minutes. FOR SURE put extra white chocolate chips on the top, and a dried cranberry and some chopped pecans. It does take extra time, but oh my goodness, how delicious,,,, and how much prettier they are. Definitely worth the extra minute or two. I’m going to try to freeze some for when I return to work next week. Fingers crossed that works well! Thank you, LOVE the extraordinary cookies.
Jessica Gavin says
January 1, 2019 at 10:21 pmThank you for the helpful feedback Kate! Definitely adjust the cook times as needed. Sometimes the persimmon is more or less pulpy, so you may need more time to drive off excess moisture. Let me know how the frozen ones turn out 🙂
Vicki says
January 23, 2019 at 10:09 amYour recipe calls for pecans, but your video says almonds. I’m assuming either would be fine, although I would think toasted almonds would be better? I am making your cookies later today and I know they will be delicious!! I always pulp my persimmons when in season and freeze them for future use. I am a big fan of persimmons, it is traditional in my family to have persimmon pudding for Thanksgiving family dinner. Just isn’t the same without this if you grew up in the south!! There are too few recipes for this wonderful fruit.