Persimmon Bread

The spoons just keep coming in  the ripe persimmon seeds!  Just in case the persimmon prognosticator is correct and we are in for a winter with lots of snow, Grandpa and I have the wood cut and piled and covered.  We even had a good portion of it split and ready for the wood stove.  What is the old saying?  Wood heats you twice:  once when you split it and again when you burn it.

So while you are sitting next to that crackling fire and enjoying a snug room on a cold day, bake some persimmon bread!  This recipe came from the book Foxfire 3. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press, 1975. 

1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp soda
1 cup mashed persimmons
1/2 cup walnuts

Cream shortening, add sugar and eggs; beat well. Sift dry ingredients, add to creamed mixture alternately with persimmons and nuts. Pour in a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

(note: if the batter is a bit thick, add a small amount of buttermilk to make it the consistency of banana bread.)