It has very ancient origins; typical Christmas cake, in those days it was called Aromatic Bread, Pan Pepatus or Christmas Bread. The ancient recipe contained teas of orange, cedar and melon, almonds and spices. All ingredients at the time rather expensive, therefore, the production was intended exclusively for the nobles, the rich and the clergy. Over time, the recipe underwent various changes until 1879 when Queen Margherita went to Siena and for the occasion an apothecary prepared a panforte without melon and covered with vanilla sugar instead of black pepper. This recipe that can be easily made at home is based on dried fruit, candied orange, sugar, honey and of course the inevitable spices. The shape that belongs to him and shown here is the round one but if you want you can make a rectangular panforte and then cut it into cubes and serve it on a tray together with other Christmas sweets. Like me, you can have fun packing it in a simple way and with materials that are easily available at home; wrapped in white paper, tied with kitchen twine and finished with a label cut from cardboard. This cake will keep for a long time, keep it in a cool and dry place and covered with aluminum foil.
Time of realization: 45 minutes
Degree of difficulty (1 to 5): 2
Ingredients for 3 16 cm panforti
150 g of Acacia Honey
150 g of dried figs
300 g of almonds
150 g of flour 0
200 g of powdered sugar
150 g of Candied Orange
1 Teaspoon of Cinnamon
1 sprinkle of nutmeg
powdered sugar to decorate
Procedure for making Panforte
Preheat the oven to 140 ° C, once the temperature is reached, bake the almonds previously placed evenly on a baking sheet. Leave to toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, cut the candied orange, dried figs and freshly toasted almonds into small pieces. In a bowl, mix the icing sugar with the sifted flour and spices. Now melt the honey in a large saucepan over low heat until it reaches a temperature of 125 ° C. Leaving on the fire and stirring constantly, pour the fruit into small pieces first and then the powdered flour and sugar. Cook until the powders are well absorbed and the ingredients well blended.
Cover the surface of a round pan with the wafer, possibly with a hinge closure (if you do not have the wafer, you can use plenty of icing sugar) and pour the mixture inside, which must reach a thickness of about 2 cm.
Level well with the help of a spatula passed under running water and lay the other sheet of host on the surface. Let it cool completely, run a wet blade along the edges and remove from the mold. If you are not using the wafer sheet, sprinkle generously with icing sugar.
The recipe was made by Famous Tiziana.
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