Persimmon Spelt Tea Bread with Toasted Walnuts

 As most of us slip back into our post holiday routines I realize that simple baking is one of my favorite pastimes and that baking on Tuesday mornings makes the most sense as that is the day I pick up Noah, my grandson, from school.  Noah has a sweet tooth, like me, and I really do enjoy how much he likes my homemade baked goodies.  I used the last of my bowl of very ripe Hachiya persimmons, which easily made the cut for the tea bread I baked this morning.  I adapted a recipe from Cooking Light's Way to Bake which I ordered sometime last month as part of my annual New Year's resolution to bake healthier.  I found several simple recipes for cookies, breads, muffins etc, not too terribly fat-free, that I'm going to try over the next few months.  My persimmon bread looks like banana bread in the pictures and frankly the texture is really not too far off.  If you look closely at the slices of the bread you will notice, among the pieces of toasted walnuts, small orange flecks of the persimmons.  The flavors of the persimmon, toasted walnuts and spices are pronounced in this not overly sweet tea bread which I found to be tender and very fragrant from the oven.  I tried a slice still slightly warm with a cup of tea this morning, yum- one of the rewards of home baking!

Ingredients and Directions for Persimmon Spelt Tea Bread with Toasted Walnuts

Preheat oven to 350F and coat 2- 8"x4" loaf pans with baking spray

1&1/2 cups spelt flour

1&1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Penzeys baking spice(cinnamon, ground anise seed, mace, cardamom)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup ripe Hachiya persimmon pulp, from 2 persimmons

1/2 cup vanilla soy milk or 1% low fat milk

1/3 cup melted unsalted butter

1 tablespoon walnut oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 cup walnuts, toasted & chopped

In a medium bowl combine the flours, baking soda, salt and baking spice.  Whisk together and set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer combine the sugar, persimmon pulp, soy milk, melted butter, walnut oil, vanilla and eggs.  Beat on medium speed until blended.  Add the persimmon mixture to the bowl of dry ingredients stirring until blended, add the toasted walnuts.  Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pans and smooth out the top.

Bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into bread comes out clean.  Bread will be deep brown and pulling away from the sides of the pan.  Cool in the pans for about 10 minutes and turn out onto a metal rack to continue cooling before slicing.

 Another picture from my garden, I can't believe that these fall colored pink hydrangeas are still hanging on and look so pretty from my kitchen window.