Persimmon Cookies with Chocolate Chips

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Persimmon cookies are a delicious winter treat! Learn how to make these chewy, cakey, cozy cookies with fresh persimmons. They’re perfect for gifting, cookie exchanges, or keeping for yourself!

Ever since I can remember, my Aunt Sandy has been baking with persimmons. She’d bring these little persimmon bread loaves to Christmas Eve for all the kids, and we’d all talk about how we liked to have them for breakfast on Christmas morning.

These cookies are pretty legendary in my family, too. I tried them for the first time last year and realized how easy they are!

Psst — if you want to try our persimmon bread (internet-famous!) or some other fun winter baking, bookmark these recipes too:

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Learn About Baking With PErsimmons

Persimmons are a tree fruit, and they look kind of like a cross between an apple and a tomato. There are two main varieties – fuyu and hachiya. I mostly deal with fuyu because hachiya persimmons have to be very ripe to be edible. (Ripe to the point of being squishy throughout. Then some folks just cut the top off and eat the insides with a spoon, like jelly.)

If you eat a hachiya when it’s not ripe, the tannins are extreme. I took a big bite of one once and learned this the hard way. It’s an awful feeling and taste. To be fair, you can do other things with hachiya — dry them, bake with them, etc.

But! The fuyu persimmons can be eaten just like an apple, which we do a lot in the fall. I even slice them up as snacks for the kids. These are the ones I love to use to bake with, because I have easy access to a couple of fuyu trees and you can eat them both raw and baked/cooked.

Make PErsimmon Puree for Persimmon Cookies

Most baking recipes that use persimmons call for them to be pureed. There are lots of ways to do this.

The most hands-off way is to wait for them to ripen by themselves and then just use the soft insides. Another easy way is to freeze the persimmons whole, and then scoop out the soft pulp once they thaw.

But I find it easiest to just chop them up and pop them in the food processor. If I’m using fuyu persimmons, I don’t even take the skin off. Slice off the top, slice out the middle and any seeds, cut into large chunks, and food process until it’s smooth.

With regards to this recipe, I find that leaving the skins on does not affect it at all, and it saves a ton of time!

Ingredients for Persimmon Cookies

  • 1 c persimmon pulp
  • 2 c. flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 c sugar
  • 1/2 c. shortening
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 t. cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 c. chocolate chips (or raisins if you prefer)
  • optional: 1 c. nuts

How to Make Your Cookies

  1. Prepare the persimmons. If they’re pretty soft, you should be able to cut off the top and squeeze out the pulp. If they’re not so ripe, take the skin off, cube, and puree them in a blender until you have a pulpy consistency. About 3 persimmons should make one cup of pulp.
  2. Beat the pulp, baking soda, sugar, and shortening until creamy. Add egg, flour, spices, chocolate chips, and nuts (if you choose). Mix until you reach a doughy consistency.
  3. Cover a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and drop spoonfuls the dough onto the sheet. (These cookies don’t spread too much if you measure everything exactly– they’ll stay in a similar shape to the one that you drop them in, so keep that in mind.) Bake at 375 for about 12 minutes, depending on your oven.
  4. Once the cookies are golden around the edges, remove and allow to cool.
dough for persimmon cookies
dough for persimmon cookies

Enjoy!

These special cookies are only around during the early winter when persimmons are in season, so I hope you try them!

They’re a mouthwatering twist on a plain chocolate chip cookie, and the persimmon gives them a flavor boost that’s to die for.

I love them because they’re somewhat cakey, and extra soft.

I like to give little boxes of these as gifts around the holidays, too! Give them away or keep them for yourself — but whatever you do, I hope you try them out. xoxo

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persimmon cookies

Persimmon Cookies with Chocolate Chips

Yield: Persimmon Cookies
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Total Time: 32 minutes

These persimmon cookies are a delicious winter treat!

Ingredients

  • 1 c persimmon pulp
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 c sugar
  • 1/2 c shortening
  • 2 c flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 c chocolate chips (or raisins if you prefer)
  • optional: 1 c nuts

Instructions

    1. Prepare the persimmons. If they're pretty soft, you should be able to cut off the top and squeeze out the pulp. If they're not so ripe, take the skin off, cube, and puree them in a blender until you have a pulpy consistency. About 3 persimmons should make one cup of pulp.
    2. Beat the pulp, baking soda, sugar, and shortening until creamy. Add egg, flour, spices, chocolate chips, and nuts (if you choose). Mix until you reach a doughy consistency.
    3. Cover a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and drop spoonfuls the dough onto the sheet. (These cookies don't spread -- they'll stay the same shape that you drop them in, so keep that in mind.) Bake at 375 for about 12 minutes, depending on your oven.
    4. Once golden around the edges, remove and allow to cool.

Notes

Most baking recipes that use persimmons call for them to be pureed. There are lots of ways to do this.

The most hands-off way is to wait for them to ripen by themselves and then just use the soft insides. Another easy way is to freeze the persimmons whole, and then scoop out the soft pulp once they thaw.

But I find it easiest to just chop them up and pop them in the food processor. If I’m using fuyu persimmons, I don’t even take the skin off. Slice off the top, slice out the middle and any seeds, cut into large chunks, and food process until it’s smooth.

With regards to this recipe, I find that leaving the skins on does not affect it at all, and it saves a ton of time!

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22 Comments

  1. Oh and i have 5 persimmons and i was thinking of finding a recipe to cook them! thank you for sharing, these look beautiful!

  2. I was at the store yesterday and passed by a pile of persimmons and thought, these are so pretty. What could I make with them. This recipe looks like the perfect thing. Love the tea towel too. Super cute.

  3. What a gorgeous shop. Thank you so much for the giveaway–and the persimmon cookie recipe, as I’ve never eaten a persimmon. I think the towel featured in the giveaway is actually my favorite, but green tree is lovely too. Heck, they’re all lovely, and they all play well together, too.

  4. I switched the mixing method up a little bit – mixed the wet ingredients (used melted salted butter instead) , whisked the flour, baking soda & sugar together, then added to the dry until just combined. Then mixed in the cinnamon & cloves (skipped the nutmeg & salt) and half a chopped up dark chocolate & hazelnut RitterSport bar that I had from Christmas. I had to add a little extra flour, probably 1/3 cup. Baked for 15 mins on parchment and they flattened out quite a bit, but were SO FLUFFY and amazing!!! This was the first time I ever bought persimmons and I’ll be doing it again thanks to your recipe!