Cold, foggy autumn days and cake experiments – Persimmon gingerbread muffins

Hey there!

As I am having my day off today I obviously had to commence my day with a little baking sesh. I’ve been struggling with creating fluffy cake batters so I did some research which brought me to the conclusion that I should get some baking soda to add to my cakes. I also read that it is supposedly really important to have all ingredients at room temperature. Plus you should get your batter into the oven right after you finished mixing it up.

To try whether these tips would actually work I decided to make some muffins and as persimmons, one of my favourite autumn fruits, are in season I decided to include them in today’s recipe. I also felt like adding some gingerbread spice, I know it is not quite Christmas season yet, though I was just really feeling like some gingerbread. Plus the gingerbread spice actually goes so perfectly with the persimmon and the dried figs, which I added as the main sweetener. I also added some agave as the batter wasn’t quite sweet enough after I tasted it with just the figs mixed in. After all I was baking muffins not bread and I just like my baked goods to taste somewhat sweet. I don’t like it overly sweet, but a little sweetness, doesn’t hurt, right?

I am not feeling very talkative today for some odd reason, there’s really not much else I’ve got to say to you right now.. Oh well you’re here for my recipes, am I right? So I guess you don’t need to hear an anecdote of my oh-so-interesting life in every single post of mine…

So here you have it people, the recipe for my amazingly fluffy and delicious persimmon gingerbread muffins

• 100g spelt flour
• 50g ground hazelnut
• 3tsp gingerbread spice
• 6 figs, soaked in 2 dl water (preferably over night)
• 1 very ripe persimmon
• 65g agave
• 1tsp rapeseed oil
• 180g soy yoghurt
• 1tsp vinegar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1tsp baking soda
• ¼ persimmon(one of the harder ones), chopped into little chunks

1. Preheat your oven to 205°C
2. Add the flour, ground hazelnut and the gingerbread spice into a large mixing bowl.
3. Remove the figs from the soaking water and pour the soaking water into a pan. Let it reduce over high heat until you’re left with about half of what you had at the beginning.
4. Add the reduced fig soaking water, agave, the ripe persimmon, soy yoghurt, vinegar and rapeseed oil into a food processor and process until smooth.
5. When your mixture is smooth pour it into the bowl with the dry ingredients and also add the baking soda and baking powder. Mix until well combined.
6. Pour your batter into lined/greased muffin tins and top with the chopped up persimmon. The amount of batter you made makes enough for 6 large muffins.
7. Place your muffins in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

Voila, that’s it delicious and somewhat fluffy persimmon gingerbread muffins. Aren’t they the perfect afternoon treat for those cold autumn afternoons when all you really want to do is cuddle up in a blanket and sip on a cup of hot tea or coffee? Well I definitely think they are. By the way, you’re probably wondering whether the tips on how to bake fluffy cakes have worked, well to be honest, they could have been fluffier, but as they tasted absolutely amazing I still wanted to share the recipe with you. They were just so delicious!

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Bisous,