Perfect Persimmon Crisp

Use up your backyard persimmons and create an easy pie-adjacent dish for a fall potluck with this perfect persimmon crisp recipe.

I simply cannot help that I am persimmon-obsessed, okay? Persimmons are a huge part of Japanese culture and cuisine, and they’re popular across many other Asian countries as well. I grew up eating the fuyu persimmons from my grandparents’ backyard, as did many of my Asian-American friends. When I tire of biting directly into a persimmon, skin-on and all, I start dreaming of persimmon baked goods. The problem I find is that many American baked desserts are so heavy on the sugar and other wild flavors that the mild fruitiness of persimmon gets lost. So I made it my mission to create a perfect dessert for fall that still really highlighted the pure persimmon. Et voila this persimmon crisp was born.

Crisps vs. Crumbles vs. Pies, etc. etc.

Crisps, crumbles, cobblers, buckles?! As a non-southern American, all these pie-adjacent desserts are hard to keep straight. I still literally have to Google “What is a _______?” every time I forget. Even after developing this recipe.

A crisp is like you take a fruity pie filling and top it with a sweet oat-based streusel. In contrast, for a crumble, the streusel would not contain oats, and for a cobbler, it would be a biscuit dough instead of a crunchy streusel.

I happen to really like oats, and I think their crunchiness pairs well with the little bit of crunch you can get in a fuyu persimmon, which is why I went for a crisp in this recipe.

Fuyu vs. Hachiya Persimmons

Speaking of which, I made this recipe for fuyu and not hachiya persimmons. Hachiya need to be super squishy and ripe in order to eat them, in contrast to the more firm fuyu. Theoretically, you could substitute one for the other, but know that you’ll not get that kind of cubed, apple-pie looking filling. You’ll get something more squishy like a berry filling with hachiya.

More Ingredient Substitutions

For the brown sugar, you can use either light brown sugar or dark brown. I actually recently have been using Okinawan black sugar, which is unrefined and basically like a super ultra dark brown sugar with a strong molasses flavor. Ugh. So good.

If you’d like to make this dish gluten-free, feel free to substitute almond flour or oat flour for the all-purpose flour in the streusel topping.

Serving Suggestions

This crisp is amazing with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It is also a nice complement to my persimmon cake recipe and would look beautiful on any Thanksgiving or other fall holiday banquet table.

More Fall Recipes

Looking for more fall recipes to complete your menu? Check these out:

• Japanese sweet potato creme brulee
• Okinawan sweet potato haupia pie bars
• Maple tahini roasted carrots
• Sweet potato butter mochi