This spiced Bourbon Walnut Persimmon Bread is full of nuts and fruit, and the perfect wintery breakfast while these pretty little persimmons are in season!
After the hubs got home from deployment, he had a couple weeks off for the holidays. He rarely ever gets time off, never mind weeks at a time, so we decided to take advantage and plan a little trip. Since I haven’t been to many of the Western states, I wanted to check a new one off the list. Washington, Colorado and Wyoming are all at the top of my to-do list, but they all sounded way too cold at the end of December.
A friend recommended Sedona, Arizona and since Arizona is a lot further South, it sounded good to me! The cost of plane tickets during the holidays was pretty ridiculous so we decided to road-trip it, stopping a few places along the way. We ended up visiting Joshua Tree National Park, Phoenix/Scottsdale, Sedona and the Grand Canyon. We could have skipped Phoenix (though we did have one really amazing meal there), but the rest of the trip was absolutely breathtaking and worth the many hours in the car. I plan to do a couple travel posts on our trip soon!
Before hitting the road, I stocked the car with lots of snacks. A loaf of bread, jar of peanut butter and bunch of bananas became our lunch for many days. We also had snacks. So many snacks. Chips, trail mixes and granola bars. And a few delicious homemade treats. Like this Bourbon Walnut Persimmon Bread!
It’s persimmon season ’round these parts. Until I moved to California, I’d never had a persimmon and possibly didn’t even know what they were. But they grow like crazy here and someone is always trying to offload their backyard tree’s bounty on you. Fine by me! These winter gems are the best.
Regular persimmons (the plump, heart-shaped ones) aren’t edible until they are super mushy. Though I don’t care for the texture eating them plain, they are PERFECT for baking! [Fuyu persimmons are shaped more like squat tomatoes and can be eaten when they’re still hard– they’re super yummy to eat straight up before they become overripe!]
Anywho, I got a bunch of regular, overripe persimmons and was ready to bake. Since I know Nick loves his bourbon, I thought I’d make a holiday-esque persimmon bread with lots of nuts, fruits and booze. It was a definite hit! Perfect for breakfast or a snack on the road!
- 4-5 large ripe persimmons
- 3½ cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 4 large eggs
- ⅔ cup bourbon
- 2 cups walnuts, toasted
- 2 cups dried cranberries
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 loaf pans with nonstick spray and set aside.
- Remove stems and peels from persimmons and place in a food processor or blender (if there are still little bits of peel on them, that's ok, just remove the majority). Blend into a smooth puree.
- In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Add sugar and stir lightly to combine.
- In another bowl, whisk together coconut oil, eggs, bourbon and 2 cups of the persimmon puree.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Stir in walnuts and cranberries.
- Pour the batter evenly into the 2 prepared loaf pans. Bake 60-70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pans until cool enough to handle, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Adapted from David Lebovitz.
Check out these other delicious persimmon recipes!
You put bourbon in bread??! OMG, I want to hug you!! This bread looks beyond fantastic, my dear! The addition of Walnut and Persimmon just takes this over the edge of deliciousness! I could eat the whole dang loaf! So glad you had a lovely road trip!! Cheers, girlfriend and happy almost weekend!
Thanks, Cheyanne! I pretty much did eat the entire loaf. HEHE! So yummy!
Jess, this bread is so up my alley! I love persimmons so much, and with bourbon they have to be even better! I love the photos from your trip — I’ve been wanting to go to Sedona — it looks so beautiful! Sounds like you had a wonderful time. 🙂
Sedona was our favorite part of the whole trip, and we definitely want to go back again for a longer amount of time. There are SO many cool hikes there and it’s SO beautiful! Definitely keep it on your list!
So I will be the first to admit that I’ve never had persimmon before and never even heard of it until a few years ago! But I love seeing recipes that use it, especially this bread. I love the flavors in here! Looks SO good! And it sounds like you had such a fun trip! I love seeing your pics on instagram (especially your dog trying to get your cat under the bed…that cracked me up)! 🙂
LOL! They’re so funny when they “play” together. I had never had a persimmon til I moved out here either, but if you ever come across them definitely give them a try! They aren’t really like any other fruit I’ve ever had!
Your road trip sounds so much fun, and definitely sunnier than visiting Washington right now 🙂 I love the sound of this persimmon bread! I was searching for persimmons at the grocery store yesterday and had no luck – I’m jealous of all the persimmons around you. This is the perfect way to use them 🙂
Thanks, Rachel! They’re definitely a fun fruit for baking!! 🙂
This bread sounds so good & such a unique flavor Jess!! Wish I could try this!
Oh wow! This flavor combination sounds magnificent! I never know what to do with persimmons.
Looks like you had a wonderful trip. I would love to go there someday!
Thanks, Christin! It was such a fun trip. The desert is such a unique place– so sparse but beautiful in it’s own way!
I really like to have homemade snacks like this on road trips. I live in Minnesota, and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a persimmon in the store before. I need to hunt them down, though. This bread looks amazing!
Thanks, Amanda! I’d really never seen them until I moved out here, but if you do get a chance to find them definitely try them out!
Road trips are so fun! Glad you got to have a few weeks off together. I’m not sure if I’ve ever had a persimmon before, but this bread looks wonderful. And I’m sure it was nice to have some homemade treats while driving.
Definitely! Snacking is the only way to stay sane on a roadtrip, LOL. Thanks, Sherri!
What a neat road trip, I love the pics! Good destination choice for this time of year, too!
I’ve never had a persimmon before, but now I’m going to have to pick some up and try them out, this sounds delicious! 🙂
They’re such an interesting fruit! Kind of cinnamony and just totally different than anything else. Definitely get your hands on some!
Your trip looks so fun! This bread looks delicious! My neighbor has a persimmon tree and always gives me bunches. Can’t wait to use them to make this bread.
Thanks, Natalie! One of my fave things about living in California is all the fruit trees in everyone’s yards! We have a little baby Asian pear tree that only gives us a couple dozen pears each year (and the squirrels always steal some) but I can’t wait til it’s producing enough to gift on all our neighbors!
Your trip looks like so much fun! This bread looks like the perfect snack for the road trip! I love persimmons (my mom buys a box at a time to share with me) but I have still not tried baking with them yet! I definitely want to try next time! It sounds so yummy!