Panforte, or Sienna Cake as it is often known, is a traditional chewy Italian dessert containing fruits and nuts. It is similar to a florentine but much thicker.
Sliced and served in thin slivers it is the perfect accompaniment when offered with a cup of tea to finish a meal or makes a fantastic gift when teamed up with a bag of Stir Tea.
Ingredients:
1 cup almonds toasted and halved
1 cup dry roasted hazelnuts*
2½ cups dried mixed fruit (any mixture of raisins, dried apricots, diced figs, peel, ginger)
⅔ cup plain flour
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 heaped teaspoon cinnamon
60g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup thyme honey*
½ cup granulated sugar
Icing sugar to finish
*We used Dunford Grove Dry Roasted Hazelnuts and Dunford Grove Thyme honey www.dunfordgrove.com
Method:
Preheat the oven to 150 degrees celsius and line a round sandwich tin with baking paper, both base and sides. We suggest a 17-18cm tin.
In a bowl, combine the nuts, dried fruit, flour, cocoa and cinnamon. Set aside while you prepare the sugar mixture.
In a large heavy based saucepan, gently warm the honey and granulated sugar. Bring to the boil and simmer until a few drops of the toffee mixture dropped off the end of a spoon into a glass of cold water forms a soft, squishy ball of toffee.
Drop in the chopped chocolate, turn off the heat and stir until the chocolate is melted.
Add the dry ingredients to the chocolate toffee mix and stir to combine with a strong wooden spoon. The mixture is difficult to work with and you need to move quickly before the mixture cools.
Once all the flour is mixed in, scrape the mixture into the paper lined tin and spread out evenly. If you find it too difficult to work, you can run your hands under the cold tap, shake off the excess moisture then press out using your damp hands to an even level surface.
Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the panforte is set and firm to the touch.
Cool in the tin and then dust liberally with icing sugar before serving.
Storage:
This keeps really well in the fridge tightly wrapped in foil.
A big thanks to Jocelyn from the award winning Dunford Grove Olive Oil, who has kindly given us permission to share her recipe. Visit their website to learn more about their story www.dunfordgrove.com.
