thanksgiving persimmon tart

My mom's neighbor has a huge persimmon tree which produces the most beautiful, crunchy, juicy persimmons.  And lucky for us, her neighbor doesn't like to eat persimmons, so he ends up giving bags and bags of them to my mom, who ends up bringing bags and bags of them to our house when she comes to visit us.  So this year for Thanksgiving I decided to use those beautiful persimmons to make a fresh persimmon tart.

I started out by making my favorite all-butter pie crust, and rolled it out into a 9-inch tart pan.  While that chilled in the fridge, I washed, peeled, and sliced my persimmons.  Then I added some sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and just a pinch of cloves, and tossed the sliced persimmons in it.

Then I pulled my chilled pie crust out of the fridge, and arranged my persimmon slices in a pretty pattern on top of the crust.

For the final touch, I brushed egg wash over the top of the exposed crust, and sprinkled on a bit of sanding sugar, before baking the tart in a 375 F oven for about 45 minutes.

This was my first time eating cooked persimmon - we usually just eat it raw, sliced thin or in thick wedges, and I have to say I think I actually prefer eating it raw.  There's just something so delicious about the crunch and juiciness of a perfectly ripe persimmon.  That said, while I loved the look of the finished tart, I think next time I'll stick to using other fruits for this type of tart, such as apples or pears, or rhubarb (my favorite!).