Persimmon Pie

--Or-- 

The Second Pie we didn't eat on Christmas

As you may or may not have realized lately, I have had a few persimmons languishing on my counter. I am pleased to say that we have gone from 3 full bowls of persimmons down to a half a bowl... and nary a persimmon has been tossed out. Having had persimmon margaritas, persimmon bread, persimmon muffins, persimmon cookies, and persimmon leather, it seemed like the only thing left to do was to make a persimmon pie. (As it turns out, that won't be the only thing left... see "half a bowl" of persimmons still, above).

Speaking of more persimmons... any suggestions? What can I do with the rest of them? help!?

Anyway, I set out to make a persimmon pie for Christmas dessert. As it turns out, it was probably just as well that there was extra dessert on Christmas. While there is nothing wrong with persimmon pie, there is nothing particularly exciting about it, either. It just tastes like... sweet. There is no real special flavor to it. Unless you (a) just love persimmons, or (b) have a bunch of ripened persimmons laying around and you need a pie, I would say go ahead and spend your time and energy on something else. However, I fit the (b) category to a "T," so I went for it.

If I were to do a persimmon pie again (and I might... who knows?), I would probably go for a regular pastry crust. The recipe I found here had me make a graham cracker crust. At the time, I was glad (having already a rolled out three pie crusts that day) to make a simpler crust. However, when it came to eating time, there was just so much sweetness in the pie that a plainer crust might have evened things out a bit.

Just in case you are a persimmon lover, or you have a persimmon tree that you need to make use of (or the unwitting neighbor of a persimmon tree), or, like me, you got a bunch of persimmons in your CSA box and you need a pie, I'll give you the recipe.

Persimmon Pie
crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup melted butter

pie filling:
2 cups persimmon pulp
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup melted butter
2 1/2 cups milk
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Mix the crust ingredients in a large bowl, and pat firmly into a pie pan. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

Mix persimmon pulp in a stand mixer. Beat in all other ingredients in the order given.

Pour pie filling into prepared crust, and bake at 325, until set (a knife inserted int eh middle should come out clean).

It will come out of the oven looking like a swollen behemoth, but don't get your hopes up. By the time you serve it, it will look much less impressive.

Persimmon pie fresh out of the oven

Persimmon pie after cooling for 1/2 hour