If you follow me on Twitter, you've heard about these Lemony Persimmon Muffins multiple times. If you don't, here's the story:
Last week my friend Cindy called and asked if I'd like some persimmons. She bought a bag of persimmons at the market, but they had very tough skin and weren't super sweet despite being completely ripe. I said as long as she was sure she did not want them, I'll take them and figure out what to do with them. That's how I inherited ten persimmons.
Typically, I love persimmons: I have memories of eating them when I was a little girl in Russia. But these were definitely not the prettiest or tastiest persimmons I've seen. I decided to bake with them. That's how I found a recipe for Persimmon Bread on Cooking Books blog.
Of course I had to make a few changes: that's just how I roll :) First, I made the bread recipe into muffins; I also added lemon yogurt and a bit of sour cream instead of plain yogurt, took out cinnamon and added some lemon zest. My recipe is below.
Ingredients1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
zest of one lemon
3/4 cups lemon chiffon yogurt
1/4 cup sour cream
3 persimmons, peeled, pureed
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Line a muffin tin with muffin liners.
3. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest.
4. In a separate bowl combine yogurt, sour cream, pureed persimmons, oil, egg and vanilla.
5. Incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fill your muffins tins.
6. Bake for 25 minutes. Let the muffins cool before serving.
These muffins smelled amazing! They also rose quite beautifully in the oven, but "fell" as soon as I took them out. Le sigh.
As for the taste: you could definitely taste the lemon zest. The persimmon flavor wasn't strong: not sure if it's because of the persimmons themselves, or because the lemon was a bit overwhelming. Next time I'd definitely add some cubed persimmons into the mix for an added texture element.
Overall, this is a great treat for breakfast, brunch or as a snack.
Other than the typical banana bread, what do you bake with over-ripe fruit?