Did I ever tell you guys that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday? It’s all about the food and the gratitude. All good things. I hope you had a wonderful, belly busting, delicious, and joyous Thanksgiving holiday. I ate a little–okay a lot–too much, so I know I did. I hosted a Thanksgiving dinner/potluck at the very last minute with with a gluten-free eater and a pescatarian in attendance. Needless to say, there was a lot of frantic scrambling and menu planning beforehand. I made the basics–mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, turkey, whole roasted fish, gravy, Gruyere biscuits, and Chinese sticky rice–and my friends filled in the gaps–stuffing, salad, cheesy potato casserole. It sounds like a lot of food for seven people and it was, BUT we were missing dessert. Somehow dessert was forgotten/lost/overlooked in the flurry and we were left dessertless–almost. Thanks to a hefty supply of persimmons and some Instagram inspiration, this story has a happy ending. Here’s how:
Here’s one of the three giant persimmon trees in my parents’ backyard (1 haychia and 2 fuyu). It got raided big time when I went home a few weeks ago to bike Giro di Vino with my sister. There were 10 pounds of them smuggled in my carry-on luggage. If you’ve been with me for a while you know these trips happen often. I’m use to the funny looks from the TSA. I’ve been eating persimmons with everything. On crostini with ricotta and pistachios, in pomegranate and arugula salads, milkshakes, so the second I realized we were without a sweet treat to end our dinner, I knew persimmons would be coming to my rescue. Luckily, a few days prior, @brandiego of Kitchen Konfidence had posted a picture of a persimmon fool (pureed fruit mixed with whipped cream) he was making for T-day, inspired by White on Rice Couple. I jumped on board. I used crystallized ginger in place of sugar and added orange blossom water to the whipped cream. I had a few ginger-molasses cookies left hoarded from Eat My Blog, so I crushed those up to add a crunchy topping. Phew… Disaster averted! This would be a great, quick and easy dessert with any fruit for any dessert emergencies.
serves 4
2 cups of persimmon pulp, fuyu or haychia (I used a combination)
1/4 cup crystallized ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp orange blossom water
3 gingersnaps
1 fuyu persimmon, thinly sliced for garnish
1. Blend first five ingredients until silky smooth. Add a little water to thin out if desired. Divide into four ramekins and cover and chill. Can be made up to three days ahead.
2. Whip cream, powdered sugar, and orange blossom water until peaks form.
3. Crush gingersnaps in a plastic bag or pulse in a food processor.
4. When ready to serve, top each ramekin with a big ol’ dollop of whipped cream, crushed gingersnaps, and fresh persimmon.
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