Easy Persimmon Crisp Recipe

Persimmon crisp
Originally uploaded by love_yellow

OK, I promise this will be the last post on persimmons this season but I wanted to share this...

When I have a huge bounty of fruit I like to make "crisps" because it maximizes the amount of fruit you use in the recipe. Unlike a cake or cookie where you have a lot of other "fillers" - like flour, sugar, eggs, butter, etc.

Why don't I just eat it raw you say?

I do. However, during the harvesting process much of the fruit falls to ground and get damaged. The cracked and bruised fruit are perfectly good but I can't eat them fast enough. They tend to rot very quickly and end up throwing them away. So instead of discarding them, I like to salvage the parts of the fruit that are still good and either freeze it or cook with it. I've done this with other fruit too because I have apple and plum trees that like to produce a ton of fruit every other year.

I searched and tried many crisp recipes and have arrived at a recipe modification that I like best because, as usual, I've decreased the sugar and increased the fiber. Fruit is naturally so sweet, why would you need to add more sugar? But I do like how the brown sugar caramelizes with the butter to add that extra punch of wonderful flavor in the crisp topping.

INGREDIENTS
Topping:
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
¼ cup whole wheat flour
½ cup rolled oats
¼ cup ground flax seed or oat bran
¼ cup (packed) golden brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)
¼ teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Fruit:
2½-3 pounds persimmon, cut into cubes/chunks about ½ to 1-inch in size
1 tablespoon cornstarch or tapioca starch

PREPARATION
For topping:
Mix first 9 ingredients in large bowl. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until small moist clumps form. Cover and refrigerate 20 minutes.

For fruit:
Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss persimmon chunks and starch in bowl. Transfer persimmon mixture to 11x7-inch glass baking dish. Sprinkle topping over. Bake until topping is dark golden brown and fruit is bubbling, about 40 minutes. Transfer crisp to rack and cool slightly, about 30 minutes.

It tastes great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.