Persimmon Custard

Some of you paleo and primal types are always on the lookout for some dessert that passes muster with the pre-industrialized shopping cart rules.  No sugar, for instance.  This has fruit, which in this dish is ridiculously ripe, and therefore super sweet, but it's still not added sugar.  ...so all is right with the world (the pre-civilized world, of course).

Persimmon Custard

Makes 4 tiny servings, 2 satisfying ones, or one meal.

4 eggs
1 inch of vanilla bean
1/2 cup of "milk" - almond milk, milk, coconut milk, etc.  Your choice
1 large EXTREMELY ripe persimmon - it needs to be soft and sweet, "spoon ready," baby!
1 tsp rum
2 or 4 small ramekins or stoneware dishes
1 high rimmed cake pan or baking dish large enough to hold all of the above dishes

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Heat a few cups of water to boiling.

Split and scrape the inside of the vanilla beans into a blender jar.  Add the eggs.  Spoon the inside of the persimmon into the jar, taking care not to let any peel into the jar.  Blend well, until well combined and emulsified (about 30 seconds to a minute).  Add your choice of milk and briefly mix to combine.

Pour the egg mixture into the dessert cups. Place dessert cups in the baking dish so that they don’t touch one another. Pour the hot water from the pan into the baking dish so that it comes up to the level of the custard on the outside of each dish.

Put the pan in the oven and bake until they are set around the edges (about 40 minutes). Serve warm or set further by refrigerating for at about 2 hours.

Note - this was delicious, but possibly the ugliest dessert I've ever made.  It looked like solidified split pea soup.  I don't know what to do about that.