Spiced Persimmon and Ginger Muffin Recipe - Viet World Kitchen (2024)

My parents adore bargains, especially the ones at their local Salvation Army on Wednesdays, when seniors receive a 25 percent discount. On October 12, 2016, they scored a charming set of English Royal Wessex Red Willow dishes for about $22 (discounted from the original $29.50). They bought it with the intention of gifting it to me. Problem is, they packed it so well and stored it in their attic that they forgot about it until Christmas of 2017.

Mom dragged it from the attic and handed the box over to me before we left their house. I didn’t know about the set of dishes so her belated gift was a new gift to me. They’d barely been used and included two serving bowls (large enough for extra-large pho) and platters. I love certain vintage dishware and utensils and set these in the cupboard to use often. The color and pattern made me want to serve dainty things on them.

Before Christmas, I also received another installment of persimmons from Dan, our quasi-nefarious neighbor. The mini Fuyu and Hachiyas were delicious and I ended up re-gifting most of the stash to Bryant Ng of Cassia in Santa Monica. I kept a few for myself. The fruit ripened to a gelatinous sweetness and I didn’t want to discard them.

To put them to use, I picked a recipe from Alice Medrich’s amazing book, Gluten-Free Flavor Flours. It was recently issued in paperback so it’s a great deal!

Alice’s recipe for a spiced pumpkin loaf fascinated me because she’s one of the few bakers who recognize the uses and differences between Thai and American rice flours.

Thai rice flour is fine, soft, and light where as American rice flours are grittier and heavier. That’s because Thai rice flour is made by soaking raw rice, grinding it, then drying it. The America flour is ground from the raw, dry grains.

Alice has equivalents in her recipes that use rice flour so I wanted to experience her recipe using my Erawan (a.k.a. “3 Head Elephant) brand of regular white rice flour. (I needed to use up my 2017 stash.) I got the buckwheat flour – the flour used for Japanese soba noodles and Russian blini pancakes, from the bulk section of our healthy food market. The buckwheat lends an earthy depth.

The muffins came together handily with a hand-held mixer, though you can use a stand mixer if you want. I have both but for smallish jobs, I like the OXO mixer, which has a light to allow you to get a close look at how the ingredients are being transformed. The chord easily wraps around the machine for efficient storage. It costs more than other hand-mixers but I’ve been happy with it. Another good mixer is the Kitchen Aide model, which lacks the downward light but the speed power is lit so you know how fast the machine is going. On the OXO, you can listen to speed to gauge the unit’s performance.

In adapting Alice’s original recipe, I swapped the persimmon for the pumpkin puree and used candied ginger and some raisins. I also tweaked the spice blend to include ground ginger and mace.

The first time I made the muffins, the overripe Hachiya persimmons were incredibly sweet. The muffins were more cupcake like. My neighbors liked them but my husband and I wanted a little less sugar.

The second try was with Fuyu persimmons which are not as sweet or liquidy as the Hachiya variety. I removed 1 tablespoon of sugar and increased the buckwheat a little. The result was less decadent and more wholesome tasting.

These muffins keep well in the fridge or freezer. We’ve been enjoying them slightly warmed with our afternoon ginseng tea (I use tea bags by Prince of Peace, another discovery over the holidays).

Choose where you want to be with this recipe. It’s amazing that the muffins are gluten free. Whip up a half batch, if you like.

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