Vegan Persimmon Dessert – Bruleed Fuyu Persimmons
If you’re looking for a cute yet elegant, fruit-forward vegan persimmon dessert that’s more than just a fruit salad, here’s one for you. Inside these fuyu persimmons is a coconut and persimmon custard, and on top is a hard, sugar coating. Perfect for when you want to feel just a little fancy!
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Winter is Persimmon Season!
And I just can’t get enough of it! Persimmons are in season starting in around October, and ending around February. I only tried a persimmon for the first time a couple years ago, but I have been persimmon obsessed since then. Where I live in New England, I can usually find persimmons at our Asian grocery store, but I was recently out in California and they had persimmons EVERYWHERE! You could literally drive past someone’s house and see a tree laden with large, orange fruit with a sign, “Persimmons- 50¢”. In the United States you can find two main types of persimmons- fuyu and hachiya. I don’t see hachiya persimmons available very often- they are shaped sort of like an acorn, and can only be eaten when they are very ripe (ripe to the point of being mushy), or else they will have the unpleasant astringent effect, which leaves your mouth feeling super dry. Fuyu persimmons, on the other hand, can be eaten when they are firmer. Technically you can eat the skins, but they’ve never seemed appealing to me so I tend to peel mine off. Unlike hachiya, fuyu persimmons aren’t astringent so you have more options on how to eat them.
Looking for Persimmon Recipes? Try one of these!
- Vegan Millet Porridge with Persimmon and Chia
- Avocado, Persimmon and Beet Tartare
- Seared Maitake Mushroom Steaks with Persimmon Salsa
- Plus, check out this post from Vegan Yack Attack for more ideas!
Making This Vegan Persimmon Dessert
The real key to making these vegan creme brulees is getting the persimmons at the perfect stage of ripeness. You want them to have just the slightest give to them- if they’re completely hard they won’t have as much sweetness, but if they’re too soft they will never hold their shape. If your persimmons are too soft, I really recommend making a pudding out of them, but just scaling up the recipe here for the filling- it’s not quite as cute as the little persimmon pots, but still super delicious! If you do have fairly firm persimmons, peel away the skins and scoop out a little hole in the top. The persimmon you scoop out is then blended up with coconut cream and a couple more ingredients, and then heated in a small pot to make a pudding. Pour the pudding into the persimmons, and let them set before moving on to the last step. I used a no blow-torch, no oven cheat method for my hard sugar topping. Just heat some sugar, a little water, and a bit of corn syrup (to prevent crystallization) in a small pan until it starts to steam a little and turn golden. Resist the urge to stir it! Pour it over the tops of the persimmons, swirling it around to cover the tops. After a couple minutes the sugar will have set and you’re ready to go! These persimmons don’t hold up super well (the sugar on top melts over time), so eat them within a couple hours. Use a spoon to smash the sugar on top, and scoop up bits of the bruleed sugar with the custardy middle and the persimmon outsides.
Vegan Persimmon Dessert – Bruleed Fuyu Persimmons
Ingredients
- 4 Fuyu Persimmons, just slightly softened
- ¼ cup coconut cream
- 1 tsp. maple syrup
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- 1 ½ tbsp. cornstarch
- 2 tbsp. cane sugar
- 1 tsp. corn syrup (optional)
Instructions
- Peel the skins off the persimmons, and cut the dried flower end. Use a knife or a grapefruit end to cut a small well on the top of the top of the persimmon, making sure not to cut through the sides or the bottom of the fruit. Try to get about 1 tbsp of persimmon out of each fruit, and place the ¼ cup you scoop out in a blender. Set the little persimmon cups you’ve made aside until later.
- Add the coconut milk, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and salt to the blender with the ¼ cup of persimmon. Blend until perfectly smooth, and transfer to a small saucepan. Heat on medium heat until it starts to steam, then whisk in your cornstarch. Whisk well to remove any lumps, and then continue cooking for a couple minutes until it thickens. Once thick, pour into the wells in your prepared persimmons and place them in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to set.
- When your persimmons have cooled, it’s time to prepare the bruleed sugar. Since I don’t have a blowtorch, I did a bit of a cheat method (although feel free to keep it traditional if you like!). Heat the sugar, corn syrup, and 1 tsp. of water in your smallest saucepan on medium heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved, then don’t stir it again. Once the sugar has started to steam a little and turns a little golden, take off the heat and pour over your set persimmons one at a time, rotating them a little so the sugar covers the entire top. Let sit for about 5 minutes, and enjoy right away.
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