Italian Panforte Christmas Cake

Step-by-step cooking

1. Step 1:

   

   Ingredients.

2. Step 2:

   

   Cut the dense tails of dried figs and cut them into small cubes together with dried apricots.

3. Step 3:

   

   Place the nuts in a dry frying pan and fry over low heat until light golden brown and rich nutty flavor. By the way, almonds can be pre-peeled, but it is not necessary to do this.

4. Step 4:

   

   In a deep container, combine the roasted nuts and chopped dried fruits.

5. Step 5:

   

   Add sifted flour and gingerbread spices to them (I used a mixture of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg, but you focus on your taste, you can only take cinnamon).

6. Step 6:

   

   Mix everything well.

7. Step 7:

   

   Prepare the syrup. To do this, combine water, sugar and liquid honey in a deep saucepan.

8. Step 8:

   

   Put the saucepan on medium heat, stirring, bring the syrup to a boil (the sugar should completely dissolve) and boil it for 2-3 minutes.

10. Step 9:

    

    Remove the syrup from the heat and, without letting it cool, immediately pour into the mixture of nuts and dried fruits.

11. Step 10:

    

    With a wooden spoon or spatula, stir the dough until smooth. The mass turns out to be very dense and viscous, so if you suddenly can't knead with a spoon, then let the mass cool down a little (so as not to burn your hands) and knead the dough for Panforte with your hands.

12. Step 11:

    

    Cover a 20 cm diameter mold with high-quality (it is very important that the paper is really good, since such a pie sticks very easily and then it will be extremely difficult to separate it from the paper!) with baking paper. Lubricate the paper with a thin layer of vegetable oil. Put the dough into the prepared form and smooth its surface with your hands or a spatula.

13. Step 12:

    

    Preheat the oven to 150 C and bake the Panforte for 30 minutes, during which time the pie should thicken and the edges should dry slightly. Remove the finished pie from the oven and let it cool completely (I leave it on the grill immediately in the mold).

14. Step 13:

    

    Remove the cooled cake from the mold and generously sprinkle with powdered sugar.

15. Step 14:

    

    That's it, the Italian Panforte Christmas cake is ready. If desired, you can wrap it in paper and store it in a cool place for 6 months.

16. Step 15:

    

    Cut it into thin pieces and serve it to the table! Bon appetit!