Panforte Di Siena Recipes

Steps:

• THERE IS NO FAT. THIS IS NOT A MISTAKE.
• Turn oven on to 350 and toast hazelnuts until golden - about 15 minutes. Return oven to 300 after toasting.
• Line a pie plate with parchment paper so that the paper comes up the sides too. This is crucial. Maybe wax paper will work. PAM both the plate before the paper and then the paper. This is a major sticker.
• Drain orange peel if you have soaked it in brandy. Combine well all ingredients except honey and sugar. Stir. Stir. Stir.
• Heat honey and sugar until soft ball stage, 240 degrees F. Careful. It gets there real fast so watch for scorching.
• Turn out to a large bowl and add the dry ingredients. Combine. You have a dense mass difficult to combine which is why you need a large bowl.
• Place in lined pie plate and spread - shouldn't be more than 3/4 inches high. Wet your hands to spread and smooth it out. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes and then turn it out to an oiled plate and remove paper. When cool, cut into small squares. I then shake the totally cooled pieces in a bag with powdered sugar (to which cinnamon can be added). Cocoa powder is good, also, for shaking inches Store in air tight container. Keeps forever. Note: This is not a "dessert" but more adult candy. Good for snacking with a glass of wine or brandy. Stuff keeps for weeks in an air-tight container which is why the Italian Crusaders brought it to their wars in the Middle East.

Steps:

• Chop almonds, hazelnuts, apricots, pineapple, orange and lemon peel.
• Mix well with flour, cinnamon, and cocoa.
• Put sugar and honey in a saucepan, stirring over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.
• Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Add chocolate to saucepan, stir until melted, and remove from heat.
• Combine with fruit and nut mixture; cut parchment paper circle to fit bottom of 8" well-buttered round cake pan, then butter the paper and evenly spread the batter into the pan.
• Bake at 300 degrees F for 35 minutes.
• Let cool in pan.
• Remove cake from pan, wrap in foil, and let stand overnight.
• Sprinkle with powdered sugar and cut into thin wedges.
• Wrapped in aluminum foil to stay air-tight, it will keep for weeks, refrigeration not needed.
• Note: the Julesong photo accompanying this cake was taken about a month after it was made, because this cake can keep for so long and we forgot to take pics when it was newly done and the powdered sugar was still all pretty. :) Please excuse the slightly messy nature of the cake in the photo - we'll replace it with a good one, next year.