Panforte

I've been circling David Lebovitz's recipe for Panforte for a few years. I couldn't decide if it was just like fruitcake or more like candy. If it was sweet or decidedly not too sweet. Last year, I bought all the ingredients for it but never made it, leaving me cleaning out candied fruit and rancid nuts that really should have been used, whoops. This year I was determined to try it so even though it was the last thing I made for my holiday boxes of baked goods that I give out to a select few, I extended my baking by a day to make it. And honestly unless you are candying your own fruit it is not that complicated, I don't know why I get recipe hangups sometimes.

The most important thing to know is that this recipe looks to be something that a baker can improvise with (see my extensive notes after the recipe for more), it keeps forever, and at least in this iteration, it smells super Christmasy while you are making it. I hope I did it justice.

Panforte

(recipe from David Lebovitz, a pastry chef I admire, go buy his books and read his blog!)

To skin hazelnuts, rub the still-warm toasted nuts in a tea towel, to get off as much of the skins as possible. The nuts can be toasted in a 350ºF/180ºC oven for about 10 minutes first. If you want to make your own candied citron, you can find [David's] recipe at that link. You'll often see Panforte baked on rice paper (or made of another edible starch), which is harder to get than parchment paper. You can buy sheets of wafer paper online, and cut them to size.

5 tablespoons (40g) unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch-process or natural)

2 1/2 cups (325g) nuts; any mix of walnuts, almonds, or hazelnuts, toasted

3/4 cup (110g) flour

1 cup (200g) chopped candied citron or another candied citrus

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

pinch of grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon red chili powder

3 ounces (85g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 cup (200g) sugar

3/4 cup (210g) honey

extra cocoa powder, for dusting the pan

powdered sugar, for dusting the panforte

1. Preheat the oven to 325ºF (160ºC.)

2. Spray a 9 to 10-inch (22-23cm) springform pan with nonstick spray. Dust the inside with cocoa powder, making sure to get it up the sides. Line the bottom with a round of parchment paper.

3. In a large bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, nuts, flour, candied citrus, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, nutmeg, and red chile powder. Use your fingers to make sure all the ingredients are separate.

4. Melt the chocolate in a small bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Set aside.

5. In a pan fitted with a candy thermometer, heat the sugar and honey until the temperature reads 240ºF (115ºC.)

6. Pour the hot honey syrup over the nut mixture, add the melted chocolate, and stir well. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. I start by using a spatula and as the mixture cools, once it’s cool enough to touch, I use a dampened hand to get it flat.

7. Bake the panforte for 30 – 35 minutes; the center will feel soft, like just-baked custard; if you touch it, your finger will come away clean when it’s done. (Do not overcook it, or it will be too firm once cooled.) Let the panforte cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then run a knife around the edge to loosen it from the pan. Remove the springform carefully (sticky edges might tear, so keep an eye out), then let cool completely.

Once cool, remove the bottom of the springform pan and peel away the parchment paper. Sprinkle the panforte with powdered sugar and rub it in with your hands.

Storage: Panforte can be kept for several months, well wrapped, at room temperature.

Notes from JennyBakes:

- I am down one regular sized springform pan and knew I'd be cutting this up, if it worked out, to put into holiday boxes. Since I saw quite a few panforte around the internet in square forms, I felt okay baking it in my 9" pyrex with two overlapping sheets of parchment paper, which I sprayed with nonstick spray. These recipes are sticky so you want some way to get that sucker out of there.

- I have not had hazelnuts for a few years. I grew up with them and sometimes my Mom sends them for the holidays but I have not found a way to buy them online without buying in bulk or spending astronomic amounts. I thought I had almonds but they had gone bad, so all I used were walnuts. That wasn't what I would have done on purpose and I think it's best either with his mix of nuts or just some kind of variety. I did toast the walnuts I had for 10 minutes and let them cool before making the recipe.

- I wish I had followed David's direction on step 6 to put more effort into making the mixture flat on top before baking. Unlike a cake which would settle, the panforte retained the shape it started, and so when I added the powdered sugary it looked quite nobbly.

- I still am not certain of the desired texture and since my candy thermometer somehow only goes up to 222, I only know my sugar boiled beyond that. The pieces are slightly gooey but still hold up on their own so it's possible I either underboiled or underbaked, but I was equally wary of overboiling and overbaking. I may ask one of my colleagues who travels often in Italy, in case she's had the chance to eat it from the source.

- I came across this wonderful article in The Guardian about making the perfect panforte and there are so many interesting variations. I was also comforted by the one pictured from Nigella Lawson, because the top looked like mine after baking - slightly sticky, darker around the edges, maybe a bit of a feeling of goo.  That feature makes it sound like many of the ingredients are interchangeable, although at some point it is no longer a traditional recipe. I saw one recipe in my searching that was a ginger apricot version, and that sounded delicious, as did one that used dried figs.

- I am not certain how this differs from a fruitcake, although I am recognizing that there is no booze in this recipe, which I think of as central in a fruitcake.

- For even more information, check out the historical entry on Panforte di Siena from Fine Dining Lovers