Spiced Persimmon Crème Brûlée

Sweet pumpkin persimmons add a delightful flavor to this spiced persimmon crème brûlée. Top with sliced persimmons and perhaps a few candied pecans for a deliciously memorable holiday dessert.

Who doesn’t love crème brûlée? Soft custard, just barely set, topped with crunchy sugar blasted into goldenness by a kitchen torch. I tell you, friends, these are the things dreams are made of! 

As I mentioned in my Winter Crunch grape muffin post, this is not a sponsored post but I was gifted the pumpkin persimmons by Melissa’s Produce. It was such a treat to open the box and see all of the wonderful goodies inside! 

If you haven’t heard about their Family Baking Challenge, let me fill you in. There are more than $5,000 in prizes to be won, including a KitchenAid mixer. Full details and sign up here: Melissa's Produce website. 

Spiced Persimmon Crème Brûlée

Like many families, we are a small household these days so I tend to downsize recipes to minimize waste and leftovers. The original recipe on Bigger Bolder Baking makes six whereas mine makes only four. My recipe calls for 2 pumpkin persimmons which weighed 8.75 oz or 248g, about 1 1/4 cups after peeling, coring and cubing.

Ingredients for 4 crème brûlée

For the custard:

2 sweet pumpkin persimmons, plus 1 extra for serving

1 1/4 cups or 295ml heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

Pinch fine sea salt

5 large egg yolks

4 tablespoons sugar

To serve:

extra sugar for the brûlée top

extra slices of pumpkin persimmon

Optional: candied pecans

Method

Peel, core and chop the pumpkin persimmons into small cubes. Aren't they a glorious color?

In a medium saucepan, heat the cream, persimmons, cinnamon and ginger over medium heat just to a simmer and then remove from the heat. 

Allow the persimmons to steep in the cream and infuse for 30 minutes.

Once the cream mixture has cooled, blend the mix either in a food processor or blender until the persimmon is really smooth.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with sugar. Gently whisk the cream mixture into the yolk mixture.

Lay a cheesecloth (or fine cloth) over a sieve and pass the custard base through it to remove persimmon pulp. This step is important to ensure a silky smooth brûlée. This takes some time and effort because the custard is thick but do persevere. It’s worth it! 

Heat your oven to 300°F or 150°C. Place four 6-ounce crème brûlée dishes in a roasting pan; set aside. As you can see, my largest deep baking pan only fits three so I used two pans which can fit on the same oven rack. 

Pour the persimmon custard into the dishes and transfer to the oven’s middle rack. (I had two cups of custard so half a cup or 4 oz each.) Pour hot water into the roasting pan until it reaches halfway up the side of the dishes.

Bake until set but still a bit jiggly in the center — about 35-40 minutes. Cool completely. Cover and chill for up to 2 days.

To brûlée the tops: sprinkle 1 tablespoon sugar over the top of each. I like to use a small sieve to make sure it's sprinkles evenly. 

Caramelize the sugar using a kitchen torch OR place dishes on a baking sheet and broil on high, watching carefully until bubbling and golden brown.

Let rest until the sugar hardens to a crisp shell. Top with a couple of slices of pumpkin persimmon and,if desired, candied pecans.

Enjoy!

If you love persimmons, you might also like my ripe persimmon muffins and a brief explanation of persimmon varieties.

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