Persimmon Cupcakes and Cranberry Icing

I saw persimmon's in the store, and since I've never eaten one before, decided I had to buy them and find a way to use them. Of course, I always think of cupcakes first :)

Apparently you can substitute persimmon into any recipe that uses pumpkin. I based my recipe off of Cupcake Project's recipe.
Persimmon Cupcake RecipeYield: 8 cupcakes (The original yield was 12, but I halved the recipe, and here are the updated amounts.)

• 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/4-1/2 cup persimmon pulp (the insides of 1 seeded over-ripe persimmon)
• 1/4 cup orange juice

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice and baking soda.
3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar, then mix in eggs, persimmon pulp and orange juice until thoroughly combined.
4. Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
5. Fill cupcake liners ¾ full with batter
6. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted and removed clean. (I baked mine for 28 minutes, but they were a little overdone. I would recommend checking at 20, and every few minutes after until they are ready).

Cupcake project lists a persimmon frosting recipe as well if you follow the link above, but I decided since cranberries were aplenty at the grocery store, that I should make a cranberry frosting, I based my recipe off a basic royal icing recipe.

Cranberry Icing

1 large egg white
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 3/4 cups confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted
1/2 cup cranberry mixture

To make cranberry mixture, take approx. 1 cup fresh cranberries, and boil on the stove with 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup sugar until turns into a jelly. Cool.
In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the egg whites with the lemon juice. Add the sifted powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined and smooth.

Hand mix in the cranberries. The icing needs to be used immediately or transferred to an airtight container as royal icing hardens when exposed to air. Cover with plastic wrap when not in use.