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Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8″x4″ loaf pan or an equivalent-sized pan (6 cups) of a more festive shape so long as it is not too narrow or deep to bake well.

Cream the butter and honey. Beat in the egg and then mix in the persimmon pulp.

Sift the dry ingredients together. Stir in the nuts. Add them all at once to the liquid ingredients, stirring lightly just until well-mixed. Turn the batter into the pan, place it inside another similar pan or on a cookie sheet, and bake 45 to 50 minutes, until done.

Carrot-Prune Bread

¼ cup honey

3 tablespoons oil

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup water

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour

¾ cup whole wheat bread flour

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ cup wheat germ

1 cup grated carrots

¾ cup chopped pitted prunes

½ cup chopped toasted nuts

This sweet and flavorful bread makes good muffins, too.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease either an 8″ 4″ loaf pan or a 12-cup muffin tin.

Beat honey, oil and cinnamon with a fork. Stir in the water and lemon juice. Sift the dry ingredients together, adding the wheat germ at the end. Add dry to liquid ingredients, mixing just enough to combine them thoroughly, but no more. Fold in the carrots, prunes, and nuts.

Spoon the batter into loaf pan or muffin tin. Bake 45 to 55 minutes for the loaf, about 20 for the muffins.

APRICOT-PRUNE BREAD

Soften ¾ cup dried apricots in 2 cups very hot water. Drain, saving 1 ¼ cup of the liquid to use for the water measure in the bread. Chop the apricots and use them instead of the carrots. Omit the cinnamon and the lemon juice.

APRICOT-NUT BREAD

Make Apricot-Prune Bread but leave out the prunes.

Banana Bread

½ cup date sugar or ⅓ cup honey

3 tablespoons oil or butter

1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

½ teaspoon salt

2 cups mashed ripe bananas

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour

½ cup whole wheat bread flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda ½ cup chopped dates or dried apricots

½ cup chopped, toasted walnuts, pecans, or filberts

This sweet bread is at once moister and more flavorful than what we modestly think is an already excellent recipe in Laurel’s Kitchen. Use ripe bananas, but not squishy half-fermented ones—the bread will be as good as the fruit.

The recipe is designed to use up a lot of bananas—about six—twice as many as most banana-bread recipes we know of. If you haven’t got a surfeit of ripe bananas, you can substitute an egg or two for part of the banana measure. The bread will be a little lighter, a little subtler in flavor.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8″ 4″ loaf pan.

Use a fork to beat the sweetener and fat, vanilla and salt. Add the banana and lemon juice. Sift the flours and leavenings and mix the wet and dry ingredients. Fold in the dates and nuts, reserving about 3 tablespoons of the nuts to sprinkle on top of the loaf before baking.

Spoon into the loaf pan and bake as long as an hour and a half, until done. Depending on the bananas, this bread can be very sweet—sweet enough to stand in danger of burning on the outside before it is done; if possible, place the filled loaf pan inside a second pan to protect your crust.

If you want a pretty topping for this bread, brush it with oil or melted butter when done, and sprinkle with date sugar, then return to the oven for a couple of minutes.

APPLESAUCE BREAD

Substitute untart applesauce for the bananas, and add 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon (and ½ teaspoon cloves plus ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg, if you like them). Use raisins instead of dates.

Orange-Cranberry Bread

¾ cup cranberries, coarsely chopped

½ cup raisins, chopped

1 tablespoon grated undyed orange peel

1 ¼ cups orange juice

¼ cup honey

¼ cup butter or oil

1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour

½ cup whole wheat bread flour

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon