Panforte bites, a perfect complement to an espresso
Today I’m here just for a quick dessert oriented post, it’s time to share with you the recipe for The Great Foodblogger cookie swap, which for the third year in a row kept me waiting for the postman with the same happiness in the eyes of when you wait for Santa Claus in front of the fireplace. I chose again sweet treats crammed with nuts and dried fruit, just like the cookies I baked last year. Walnuts, almonds, dried figs, raisins, cranberries, all these ingredients just scream Christmas for me, they make me think about abundance and generosity.
This is not the classic panforte from Siena, if you want the authentic recipe check this post from last year and you’ll make a tested and completely approved panforte as you could enjoy in Siena during Christmas time. I took the classic recipe and played some magic: not just the traditional almonds but also pistachios and walnuts, plus I replaced the orange and citron candied peel with raisins, cranberries, apricots and dried figs. Stir all together, pour over a golden honey and sugar syrup and baked for half an hour. Once cold, cut the panforte into bit size slices and let the fun begin. You can find walnuts, slightly bitter and woody, or a sweeter piece with dried figs and almonds, you might bite into tart cranberries and pistachio, or into a sunny slice of apricot and raisins. They are never the same, you have to try them all!
These panforte bites are perfect for those who love dried and candied fruit, for those who like a sweet treat along with a good coffee, but not just the usual chocolate, for those who worship the tradition but have the desire to reinvent it by adding some spice and some new ingredients, for those who are still a child inside but want to set a tone as an adult with a piece of panforte and an espresso.
Panforte bites
Print Recipe Share by EmailIngredients
- 250 g of walnuts
- 100 g of pistachios
- 250 g of almonds
- 200 g of dried figs, cut into cubes
- 200 g dried apricots, cut into cubes
- 100 g of dried cranberries
- 100 g raisins
- 300 g flour
- 10 g coriander powder
- 5 g of cardamom powder
- 300 g of honey
- 300 g of icing sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C and toast almonds, walnuts and pistachios in the oven for a few minutes.
- In a large bowl add the toasted nuts, the flour, the finely chopped figs and apricots, raisins and cranberries. Stir to mix.
- Line with parchment paper a 24 cm square cake tin.
- Melt in a small saucepan over low heat the honey and the icing sugar with 3 tablespoons of water. When they are completely melted and a thick golden syrup, remove the pan from the heat.
- Pour the syrup into the bowl with all the other ingredients and stir with a spoon to mix everything: it will be a very hard dough.
- Scoop the dough into the cake tin lined with parchment paper and smooth the surface with a spoon.
- Dust the surface with icing sugar and bake for about 35 minutes, then remove the panforte from the oven, let cool slightly and then remove from the baking tin. If you wait until completely cold the caramelized sugar will stick to the tin and give you hard times – as it happened to me. If it happens, slightly warm the tin and the panforte will come out with no problems.
- Once the panforte is cold, cut into bite size pieces and dust generously with icing sugar.
My panforte bites travelled to:
- Rossella of Ma che ti sei mangiato, it’s a classic, we’ve been connected since the first Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap,
- Serena of Pici e Castagne, a Tuscan blogger as I am, I hope she liked the reinvented panforte,
- Monica of Monydelfina, a new blogger I met thanks to the Cookie Swap.
I’ve been so lucky as to receive and enjoy cookies from:
- Katia of Pappa e Cicci, she sent soft amaretti with a cherry filling. Simple yet irresistible.
- Lorenza of A taste of my life, she hid her salted butter and Brazilian nuts cookies in a pretty box. Perfect and well balanced cookies, I enjoyed them with a cup of tea.
- Simona of Cookingmoma, who sent bite sized cookies filled with Nutella.
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What a lovely cookie loaded with tasty ingredients. I like how you’ve individually wrapped each. A beautiful gift and presentation! 🙂
Beautiful photography Juls! And the crema on the espresso looks awesome! did you get an espresso machine?
Great recipe! How long do they keep. I’d like to gift them for christmas.
these keep very very well, even more than ricciarelli. You can make them even a month in advanca