Spicy, soft, and moist persimmon cookies with raisins and a sweet orange glaze. This persimmon cookie recipe uses ripe Hachiya persimmons.
It’s December which means it’s time to turn on the ovens and get baking. My holiday baking list is long so I can’t waste any time. I asked Josh if he had any requests for Christmas cookies this year and of course he added his favorite Lime Coconut Snowballs and Brown Butter Salted Caramel Snickerdoodles to the list, but he also asked if we could make Persimmon Cookies. I looked at him with a blank stare. I’ve never even had a persimmon or a persimmon cookie. Josh said his mom used to make Persimmon Cookies every year and he loved them. Well, Josh’s mom came to visit us last week from California and brought us a bag full of persimmons. Guess what we made? Yep, a batch of Josh’s mom’s famous Persimmon Cookies.
Josh’s mom had to show me what to do with a persimmon. I was clueless:) I guess there are two kinds of persimmons, Fuyu and Hachiyas, we used Hachiyas persimmons, which are better for baking. Make sure your persimmons are nice and ripe. We scooped out the pulp from the fruit to use in our cookies. The pulp is bright orange and sort of slimy:) I was a little afraid, but Josh’s mom promised me it was going to produce a good cookie…and she was right:)
The cookies have a few of my favorite spices-cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. The cookies also have raisins in them. If you are a raisin hater, you can leave them out or add dried cranberries, but we love our raisins:) Josh’s mom sometimes adds walnuts to the cookies, but since Josh is allergic, we left them out. The cookies have a cake-like texture and are super soft. They aren’t the prettiest cookie on their own, but the orange glaze dresses them up a bit and compliments the spices.
A big thanks to Josh’s mom for sharing her Persimmon cookie recipe. We will be baking these cookies every holiday season from now on. It will be our family tradition. I am sure Caleb will love these cookies, just like his daddy:)
Persimmon Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon cloves
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup persimmon pulp, from 2-3 persimmons
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup chopped walnuts, optional, we omitted
- 1 cup raisins
For the orange glaze:
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- ¼ cup fresh orange juice
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter with the sugar. Beat in persimmon pulp, egg, and vanilla. Slowly add in the flour mixture until everything is combined. Fold in the walnuts, if using, and raisins.
- Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for approximately 12-14 minutes or until cookies are brown around the edges and set. Let cool on baking sheets for five minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the orange glaze, in a medium bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, orange juice, and zest together. Whisk until smooth. Dip the cookie tops into the glaze and twirl the cookie. Set cookies back on wire rack for glaze to harden.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?
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I made these cookies for the first time today. I have a tree full of these persimmons and would love to use them. I am planning to share the crop with some friends.
I will say that I used light brown sugar 2/3 cup and cut the white sugar to 1/4 cup, they were plenty sweet with the icing.
I did not bother with the icing!
These are amazing!
I found that the cookie held its shape. It does not go soft and spread out. Make sure you make the cookies a uniform thickness.
I found 16 minutes on cookies that were 1/2″ thick worked for me
Oh, and I choose to use whole wheat flour instead of the white stuff
Just made a batch using the Fuyu. Definitely a keeper recipe – thanks!
Glad you liked the cookies!
I made this recipe. Cookies turned out great. With rounded spoonfulls I got two dozen. I used only one cup of powdered sugar for the glaze. Thank you!
I’ve made these twice now, and they are absolutely delicious. My one issue is, my glaze *never* looks thick like your picture. I’ve followed the recipe exactly both times, and it is much thinner and looks nearly transparent. I end up doing two coats which looks messy and still is not as white and thick looking as your picture. I’m reluctant to add more powdered sugar as I don’t want them to get cloyingly sweet. Any suggestions would be really appreciated.
If you want a thicker glaze you can add more powdered sugar.
I love persimmon cookies. I had a recipe years ago but seemed to have lost it. Will try this recipe as soon as I can find some persimmons.
Tried this recipe, for the first time yesterday. Seriously I modified it because my children don’t like either saltanas or walnuts!
I added, pumpkin spice to it and shaved apple….. with double the amount of persimmon. They where so impressed that. I have too make another batch! Thank you for the recipe it was the best cookie recipe ever. Easy to make and simply delicious!!!!
This is the best recipes for cookies I have ever made in my life. I made them for my family, and I already need to make another batch! Thank you so mu change for posting this recipe!
I made this recipe from nice, ripe persimmons and shared with our extended family. It was so delicious, they asked for more. It is a delicious recipe worth following and making every year.
I love persimmon cookies. The persimmon is horrible if its not ripe. In fact almost over ripe. But so sweet and good once it hits thst point! The cookies are awesome!
I have never been crazy about persimmon cookies, but we made these with some persimmons that were given to us. Absolutely Delicious! Probably the best cookie I have ever had! Not sure if this makes a difference but we used Fuyu Persimmons! The Orange Zest Glaze was to die for!
I made these and found they really tended to spread out when I baked them. They also we’re so moist they tended to fall apart. I don’t know if maybe a little more flour would help. They are very tasty with or without the glaze.
Didn’t like the orange glaze… Didn’t blend with sweet cookie… used lemon… much better!
So VERY good. The orange glaze is amazing on these. I used a comb of nuts, walnuts, pecans, almonds and raisins.
Yay! Glad you liked the cookies!
These look great! I plan to make some for Christmas. Do you know how long they are good for Once baked? Should they be refrigerated?
Thanks!
These turned out great, but the clove was overpowering. I’d half the clove in this recipe to 1/4 teaspoon instead of 1/2 teaspoon.
the best persimmon cookie recipe
This recipe is delicious! I needed stitches because I cut myself pulping persimmons, but I guess you could say I put my blood, sweat, and tears into those cookies!
I am so happy to see persimmon cookie recipes! They’ve been a family favorite for years. We’ve never tried it with the glaze so that’s going to be a great twist this year.
Tip- if you have a persimmon tree, you can freeze the pulp ahead of time. We even put some baking soda in the pulp before freezing.
They are so good!
Did a little mix up. added less sugar by 1/3 used 1/2 cup almond flour and when the batter was too liquid due to the puree being more liquid I added 1/4 cup more almond flour. I used Community Grains hard winter wheat whole wheat flour also. Once I put them on the cookie sheet I put them in the fridge for 1/2 hour prior to baking. They were amazing. 2 dozen gone in one sitting by 4 people.
I love this recipe. The scent of the spices filled my home. This is how your kitchen is suppose to smell in the fall. The cookie is tender and sweet. Next time I am thinking of using pumpkin puree instead.
These are delicious!! The cookies are soft, and taste like spice cake. The frosting is sweet and tart, perfectly topping off every bite!! I used golden raisins and unsalted
Cashew pieces Yummy!!!
Just these today and veganized them. I’d not cooked with persimmons before and they turned out great! Subbed avocado for butter, flax seed mixture for egg and cut back on the sugar a bit. I skipped the glazing step but know that would make them so fancy. Thank you!
These companies ponies are outstanding! I tasted them at a cookie exchange last night and I happened to get persimmons in my organic farm box. I’m super stoked to make my own this weekend! Thanks for a festive and unique cookie!
My husband and I made these cookies last night. They were honestly the best cookies I’ve ever had. I loved the icing and how moist they are. We substituted the raisins with cranberries and added the chopped walnuts. Absolutely delicious! We will be making these a holiday tradition!
Here is a Christmas Present for everyone! Two Peas’ and Their Pod offer the best persimmon Cookie recipe I have found after many searches and test batches earning a true 5 stars! Hachiya’s are in season now in No CA (Nov-Dec). Plan ahead though; they are worse than avocado’s in the time it takes’ to properly ripen. A hard Hachiya can take up to two weeks. But oh so worth the wait. These persimmon cookies are chewy, cakey, spicy, warming, and moist. A yumminess that takes you back to childhood Christmases. To get around the timing of the ripening I like to bake one batch and roll the rest into about three logs and wrap well in plastic wrap and pop in the freezer. In the time it takes to preheat the oven at 350, unroll the log and cut into 1 inch or smaller rounds and place on parchment. Pop in the oven for about 12 mins and they come out poofy perfect. I especially love introducing the next generation of children to these cookies. There is nothing like them in the stores or bakeries so they are new to the children and they love them!
Very good and easy
I have been making persimmon cookies since 12/1968. Recipe was given to me by a co worker. I have been given as many as 102 persimmons at a time and spent almost a month babysitting them until ripe enough to clean and put in a blender 2 cup capacity and into the freezer. I loved every minute of it. My recipe is almost the same as this one with the exception of replacing butter with Crisco shortening. Frozen pulp lasts a really long time in the freezer (at least a year or more). I always double the recipe. These are so worth it. In off season…a. 15oz can of Libby’s pumpkin can be substituted for persimmon pulp. Wonderful. Happy baking. I always make some adding chocolate chips and nuts.
Made these with farm fresh persimmons that my husband and I picked. Love them!
I have struggled for years wondering what to do with the buckets of persimmons our tree gives us. I have tried so many recipes for cookies, bread etc..sadly without much success, they were ok but nothing I was even close to happy with. I thought I’d give it another try this year and WOW❤️❤️❤️ these cookies are amazing !! I did add the walnuts and the orange glaze is the perfect finishing touch. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!!
Thank you so much for this I’ve been afraid to make cookies since I learned I was a diabetic but there are so many good things in it and I’m going to try it with persimmons fresh off my friend’s tree and sugar substitutes.
I had a bag of persimmons given to me for a present and I had no idea what to do with them! So, Christmas Eve I tried this recipe. It’s as good as all of the reviews say. Best cookie ever! Thank you for sharing…
Wow, saw this and had to make. My love &i have persimmons cookies before but not like this , Outstanding and WOW. I’m making a second batch right now. Thanks, Robert
This recipe is easy and delicious! I used 1 cup of coconut flour and 1 cup of almond flour instead of all purpose flour. Now I know what to do with my persimmons next fall.
Excellent recipe! Thank you AND Josh’s mom for sharing as I want you both to know everyone thinks it’s the best recipe yet.