Panforte (Italian Christmas Cake)

If you don’t know what new to make as a dessert, bake Panforte – an Italian nut-fruit pie. This interesting pastry does not even look like a pie but like gingerbread or soft kozinaki.

Summary

Ingredients

• Hazelnuts – 50 g
• Walnuts (or almonds) – 50 g
• Figs – 100 g
• Dried apricots – 100 g
• Flour – 100 g
• Cocoa powder – 2 teaspoon
• Cinnamon – 1 teaspoon
• Nutmeg – 1 teaspoon
• Coriander – 0.5 teaspoon
• Ground ginger – 0.5 teaspoon.
• Ground white pepper – 1 pinch
• Powdered sugar (for serving) – 20 g

For syrup:

• Honey – 100 ml
• Sugar – 80 g
• Water – 1 tbsp

Instructions

1. Prepare food for panforte.
2. Prepare syrup – combine honey, sugar, and water in a saucepan. Heat over low heat and boil for 2-3 minutes.
3. Caution – the mixture will foam a lot, so you need to stir constantly. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
4. While the syrup is cooling, place the nuts in a deep bowl. Add spices to them – nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, coriander, and white pepper.
5. Coarsely chop the dried fruits and add them to the bowl with the nuts.
6. Add flour and cocoa there. Mix everything thoroughly.
7. Pour the syrup over the contents of the bowl, it should completely moisten all dry ingredients. To do this, mix everything with a spoon, or, if a very thick mass, by hand.

   

8. Line a baking dish with parchment, grease with butter, and put the mass from a bowl into it. Tamp and flatten the cake with wet hands.
9. Bake panforte in an oven preheated to 150 degrees for 30 minutes. Then remove from the mold along with the parchment and cool.

   

10. Sprinkle the panforte with powdered sugar, cut into pieces, and serve.
    Panforte can be prepared in advance and stored (after wrapping it in parchment) in the refrigerator for up to six months.