Persimmon Ginger Holiday Cookies
By: Four Seasons Ho...
Published: Sunday, December 6, 2009 - 9:16am

Ingredients




1/2 cup shortening
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
teaspoon ½  baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons heaping  finely chopped crystallized ginger
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
cup 1  persimmon puree
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Preparation

1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2 Cream shortening and sugar together. 3 Add egg and mix well. 4 In a large bowl mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. 5 Sift into the creamed sugar and mix well. 6 Add chopped ginger, walnuts, vanilla and persimmon puree. Mix until smooth.  Drop in heaping teaspoonfuls on a parchment lined cookie sheet. 7 Bake 13-15 minutes or until tops are just turning golden.  Should have a cake or muffin like texture. 8 Dust with powdered sugar, or use to make ice cream sandwiches with pumpkin pie ice cream!

About


Note: This recipe was submitted by Diana Johnson to the Four Seasons Hotel Seattle's Ultimate Holiday Cookie Contest.
When I imagine holiday cookies I think of soft, chewy, and delightfully spicy persimmon cookies. As a small child in North Carolina we had a bounty of persimmon trees in our back yards. I would pretend to be a pioneer who only had the food I could gather to eat. I'd collect as many persimmons as I could and scoop out their flesh. I'd eat it until I was a sticky mess, and we would puree the rest and freeze it. A couple weeks later we would use the puree to make cookies and we'd give them out when we Christmas caroled friends and neighbors. I don't know the exact recipe we used, but I've recently created my own version that brings back so many fun childhood memories. I can't wait to pass it along to my children one day.