Sienas Panforte -- A Christmas Delight
From hopscotch 13 years agoIngredients
- Panforte Nero: shopping list
- 2 1/2 ounces baking chocolate shopping list
- 2/3 cup sugar shopping list
- 1 cup less 2 tablespoons shelled almonds shopping list
- 1/2 cup honey shopping list
- 4 shelled bitter almonds shopping list
- 1 1/2 cups (180 g) flour shopping list
- A handful of pine nuts shopping list
- 1/2 teaspoon. ground cinnamon shopping list
- About 4 ounces candied citron shopping list
- The grated rind of a lemon shopping list
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves shopping list
- 1 tablespoon confectioner's sugar shopping list
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper shopping list
- ===================================================== shopping list
- Panforte Margherita: shopping list
- 1 1/2 cups (180 g) flour shopping list
- 1 3/4 cups confectioner's sugar shopping list
- 3/4 cup honey shopping list
- 1 cup less 2 tablespoons nutmeats shopping list
- 1 3/4 cup shelled almonds shopping list
- 2 ounces candied citron shopping list
- 8 ounces candied fruit peel (oranges and such) shopping list
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon shopping list
- A pinch of allspice shopping list
- 1 scant teaspoon ground coriander shopping list
- 1 tablespoon confectioner's sugar shopping list
- ===================================================== shopping list
- Both recipes require 15 Wafers (the kind used for communion; available from delicatessens) shopping list
How to make it
- Once you have assembled the ingredients, proceed as follows:
- Parboil the nuts and toast them lightly. If you are making panforte nero, mash half the almonds with the bitter almonds, chop the rest with the pine nuts, and then combine the two; if you are making panforte Margherita chop the nuts together. Dice the candied fruit and mix it and the spices with the nuts, then mix in the flour.
- Line a 9-inch diameter deep dish pan with the wafers.
- Using a copper or heavy-bottomed pot and a very low flame, set the sugar, honey, chocolate (for panforte nero) and a touch of water to boil. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon, being careful to keep the mixture from sticking. When the syrup reaches the hard ball stage, remove the pot from the stove and stir in the fruit and nut mixture. Pour the resulting batter into the pan, smoothing the top with a dampened knife. Bake in a 300 F oven for about a half hour. The panforte should not brown.
- When the panforte's done, remove the pan from the oven and trim the excess wafers sticking up around it. If you are making panforte Margherita, sprinkle the confectioner's sugar over it. Serve cold, with vinsanto.
- A final word on panforte: It is available in delicatessens outside of Siena (generally the Margherita variety), in several sizes, the most common of which is about a half-inch thick and 9 inches across (1 cm by about 27, for the metric among us). You may also be able to find the thicker variety that's proudly displayed in the windows of Siena's bars and pastry shops, which is what you should buy if you visit Siena; I suggest you seek out the Pasticceria Bini, behind the duomo, on the street that circles down to the baptistery (exit Piazza del Duomo to the left of the cathedral).
- url:
- http://italianfood.about.com/library/weekly/aa120397.htm
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