Fig, cranberry + Golden raisin Panforte
Makes 1 x 20cm diameter tin
A Christmas without panforte, probably unthinkable. Incredibly easy to make, perfect at the end of a meal with a sweet wine or coffee and makes a fanastic handmade Christmas gift.
Ingredients
1 cup sliced dry figs
1/2 cup of dried cranberries
1/2 cup golden raisins or normal raisins
1/2 cup mixed peel
1 cup roasted almonds
1 cup roasted hazelnuts, skinned
1/2 cup plain flour
2 Tbsp of good quality cocoa
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 (170g) cup liquid honey
1/2 cup granulated sugar
60g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
Method
Preheat the oven to 150c bake. Grease a 19/20cm diameter spring form tin and line the base with baking paper.
Combine prepared nuts, fruit, flour, cocoa and spices in a large bowl.
Combine the honey and sugar in a small saucepan. Heat to dissolve the sugar then simmer over low heat for 3 minutes stirring occasionally. Stir through the chocolate until melted then remove from heat.
Pour into the bowl with the flour mixture, nuts, and fruit and mix until well combined.
You will find that once you add the chocolate mixture to the dry ingredients the mixture becomes quite firm and you will need some muscle to mix it. This is as it should be.
Press into prepared tin and bake until set (about 30 minutes).
Leave to cool in the tin for about 15mins to cool slightly, then remove from the tin and allow to cool completely before dusting it liberally with icing sugar.
Store whole in an airtight container and cut thinly to serve.
Stored or tightly wrapped in plastic, it will keep for weeks
NOTES + VARIATIONS
Don’t skip toasting the nuts.
While I like to use the dried fruit and quanties mentioned in the recipe, the options and amounts of individual dried fruits are endless, but keep to the combined total of 2.5 cups. Apricots and pistachio nuts also will work.
Don’t over cook the panforte, remove the panforte from the oven while the middle is still soft otherwise the cake will be too firm.
Mixing the wet and dry ingredients together, it becomes very dense. I find my hands work the best, just be careful as in the beginning the mixture is hot and try to work quickly, before pressing it into the tin.