Persimmon Pecan Bread

This is a rich dense bread and takes a good long while to bake. Persimmons are remarkably easy to work with. The skin remains firm as you scoop out the pulp. Tasty, too, when ripe. I prepared the bread pan by my tried and true method. I use shortening and apply with my fingers, covering the corners well.

Ingredients

Persimmons, 4 ripe

Butter, ¾ cup, room temperature

Sugar, 1 and ½ cups

Eggs, 2

Vanilla, 2 tsp

Flour, 2 cups

Salt, ½ tsp

Baking soda, ½ tsp

Baking powder, 1 tsp

Cinnamon, 1 tsp

Pecans, 1 cup chopped

Preparation

Cut the top of the persimmons and scoop out the pulp. Four persimmons creates about one and a half cup pulp. Add to a blender and purée. For the next steps, I used a stand-up mixer. Put butter into the mixer bowl and soften. On a low setting, I added the sugar. Then the eggs, one at a time. Then the vanilla and the persimmon purée. When mixed, turn off the mixer. Next, in a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Remove the mixing bowl from the stand mixer. Gently stir the flour mixture in with the wet ingredients. Add the pecans and stir until just mixed. The bread pan is greased with shortening. Put the bread batter into the bread pan. Bake at 350 F for two hours. Beginning at one hour, I checked it every half hour. Once I took it out of the bread pan by turning it upside down on a rack. The center was not done. So I tried flipping it, with my hands, back into the bread pan. It split in half. I managed to pick up both halves and the center pieces that broke off; and put back in the bread pan. The bonus of that happening is I could clearly see when it was fully baked.