Persimmon Pudding Recipe

Ingredients:

Butter for baking dish
8 Fuyu persimmons, skinned and chopped about 4 cups
3 eggs
1 ½ cups sugar
1 cup whole milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 ½ tsp baking soda
2 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp sea salt
2 cups organic white flour
1 ½ cups heavy cream *(or substitute mascarpone for ½ the amount of cream)
½ vanilla bean
1 ½ tsp orange zest

Preparation:

Heat oven to 325˚ and butter 3-quart baking dish. Stir lemon juice into whole milk.

Purée persimmons in food processor until almost smooth, then add eggs and sugar. Now add the milk with lemon juice until stirred in.

Add to mixture baking soda, salt, baking powder, ½ of the flour, and ½ of the heavy cream and process to blend.

Scrape vanilla bean, adding seeds and orange zest to mixture then add the remaining flour and cream and process until smooth. *(As a delicious alternative, substitute 3/4 cup mascarpone for the remaining cream. This pulls the flavors together in a softer, luscious way, and the result is more cake-like than pudding. I prefer it this way!)

Pour into buttered baking dish and bake about 1 hour until pudding is set.