Muffin Top

Apparently there are two ways to spell this wonderfully custardy holiday time beverage: “egg nog” or “eggnog.”

I’ve always bought my eggnog from the store throughout the years, our recipe for eggnog being the comical, “Open box, pour into glass, drink!” We looooove eggnog. And it is purely a holiday time drink, because you can’t buy eggnog in a carton except for during the holidays.

But this year, out of pure curiosity, I decided to make a batch at home, complete with whipped egg topping and grated nutmeg. My reaction: OH.MY.G*D. It was AWESOME. Sorry, I can’t get more eloquent than that (I’ve had a couple cups now and am officially tipsy).

Though unnecessary, I decided to do a taste test against some store bought eggnog–the store bought eggnog was entirely bland (though nice and thick) and tasteless in the wake of homemade eggnog which just tastes so fresh and sparkles with each of the ingredients.

I made my egg nog very lightly alcoholic but you can certainly add more liquor if you please. Enjoy!!!!!

(btw, if you have problems with eggs in your area, don’t make this–the eggs are raw in this recipe)

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My friends gifted me a few hachiya persimmons a couple months ago.

I looove persimmon trees, especially when all the leaves have fallen off and all that remain are the bright orange fruit hanging off the bare branches. It is one of my favorite Autumnal sights, a fruit laden persimmon tree under a gray sky.

If you’re reading carefully–you’ve noticed I write “I love persimmon _trees_.” Not so much the fruit–even though I am ethnically Korean and that almost obligates me to love persimmons. My parents love the fruit so much they had several persimmon trees in our backyard and because of their overeager urging to eat persimmons, I may have rebelled. I never grew to love the fruit.

Since my friends’ gift, I have learned that it’s fuyu persimmons I don’t like (my parents ate, almost exclusively, fuyu persimmons, which can be eaten when firm). Of course, I learned this the hard way, first biting into the hachiya persimmons when hard.

Ack!

The tannic, bitter fruit besieged my mouth, my tastebuds–I quickly gargled with water. No dice. There was a sickening coating all over my mouth, a sensation that felt like corduroy jeans, and a taste–bleah.

Hachiya persimmons MUST be eaten when super squishy, when they appear as if they’ll totally fall to pieces, when the fruit is “liquidy.” Then, and only then, are they soooo yummy and sweet and delicious and juicy. I am so buying hachiya persimmons, go forward.

And thankfully, I made this discovery not too far into persimmon season. There are still persimmons left to enjoy! And if you’re still hesitant to eat the fruit while fresh, you can do as I’ve done all these years: use the fruit in baked goods.

Particularly excellent is David Lebovitz’s rendition of James Beard’s persimmon bread recipe. It is entirely fantastic–I made it this morning and now the house is filled with the perfume of baked bread and my tastebuds are so very happy.

Recipe follows after the jump…

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