Persimmon Bread Pudding

I received some persimmons in my Bountiful Basket this week. Yuck. I cut one up one time and added it to a salad and it was horrible. Well, I'd never dealt with them before. I didn't know that they need to be uber ripe in order to consume them without spitting up all over the place. Now that I have all of these persimmons, what to do? What to do? For one thing, I guess I will wait until they are ripe enough, which means pret-ty squi-shy.

I have my ripe persimmons and so far, research on the internet brings me to pudding upon pudding recipe. Wait, bread pudding?! What? I love bread pudding. I'm from the south, DUH! I used a random recipe I found online as a guideline but mixed and matched and added my own touches. This is what I came up with.

3 cups persimmon pulp (in order to get the pulp, just peel the skin away from the fruit and drop the squishy part into a bowl and puree)
2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
8 cups cubed bread (Italian loaf)
1/2 cup walnuts
2 tbs butter (cut into bits)
1 cup currants (feel free to use raisins, golden raisins, cranberries or whatever dried fruit you have on hand)

Whisk together milk, persimmon puree, brown sugar, eggs, currants, vanilla and salt. Add the bread cubes, coat completely, then let it sit for about 20 minutes. Stir the nuts into the mixture and transfer to the baking dish. I used a 13x9 incher. Strategically place the butter bits on top of the pudding, then into the oven she goes!

Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 35-40 minutes until it looks perfectly, golden brown. This recipe can be made a day ahead and reheated at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. The result was spectacular. The best dessert I've ever made. Easy. I love persimmons! I am excited to make my next batch. Just waiting on them to ripen up. I enjoyed this tasty dessert with chai ice cream! *Bliss*