Christmas Baking - Panforte

I have seen a lot of recipes for panforte over the years and I was always interested in giving it a go, but for some reason I never did. This year I decided it was time to finally take on the panforte challenge. I have to say that it is quite easy to make except when it comes to stirring in the hot syrup. They are not joking when they tell you to quickly mix it all together - it turns as hard as rock really, really quickly! I found it incredibly hard to stir - it definitely gave my arm a good workout. The other trouble I had was with baking it - after the allotted 45 minutes mine was no where near baked through but the top and edges were starting to brown. So I ended up having to remove it from the oven, wrap it in a few layers of aluminum foil and then bake again for around 20 minutes at around 275 F. That seemed to do the trick.

The end result is a tasty Christmas treat with lots of dried fruit and nuts, that sends a lovely honey-cinnamon aroma through the house. So what are you waiting for? Give it a try.

Panforte
Makes 60 pieces

330g caster sugar
1 cup honey
300g plain flour
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
750g mixed dried fruit
250g blanched almonds, roasted
250g hazelnuts, roasted
pure icing sugar, to dust (I didn't bother with the icing sugar)

1. Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease and line a 30cm x 20cm cake pan.
2. Heat sugar and honey in a heavy-based saucepan on low, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium and boil until mixture reaches 115 C on a sugar thermometer. (If you don't have a sugar thermometer, drop a little of mixture into cold water - it should form a soft ball.)
3. Meanwhile, combine flour, spices, dried fruit and nuts in a bowl. Add hot syrup and quickly mix together (really quickly!). Scrape mixture into prepared pan. Use wet hands to pat down flat. Bake for 45 minutes (see above for what I had to do to get it to bake). Cool in pan.
4. Turn out and dust liberally with icing sugar. Cut into thin slices (warning: you need serious arm muscles to slice it).

Rating?
Me - 4/5 - I love the rich honey flavour together with the fruit and nuts.

On the sixth day of Christmas (Florentines)

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me six geese a laying... or in my case a successful batch of Florentines. These are so simple and easy to make, it really is just a case of mixing all the ingredients together, baking them and finally spreading on some melted chocolate. The best part is that the florentines look very festive and they taste really good. Nice and sweet, with a bit of chew and a bit of crunch. Just what the doctor ordered, well actually a doctor would probably not order this due to the sweetened condensed milk - what a silly saying! Or perhaps just not the correct saying for this situation. Anyways that is besides the point, these florentines are easy and yummy, and they keep for a month in an air-tight container in the fridge - so they are great for Christmas presents. So what are you waiting for? Go make some :)


Florentines (from The Australian Women's Weekly - The Christmas Book)
Makes about 35

60g cornflakes
80g sultanas
35g dried currants
60g red glace cherries, chopped
60g green glace cherries, chopped
105g slivered almonds, toasted
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
200g dark chocolate, melted

1. Combine cornflakes, fruit, nuts and condensed milk in a large bowl and mix well.
2. Drop level tablespoons of mixture about 4cm apart on oven trays covered with baking paper.
3. Bake at 180C for 8 minutes, or until browned lightly. Cool on trays.
4. Spread bases of florentines with chocolate; make wavy lines in chocolate with fork just before chocolate sets.

Spread the bases with chocolate...


Make a swirly pattern on the bases with a fork...


Then try not to eat them all...


Oh and if you have some left over chocolate why not make some chocolate freckles. Just spread little circles of chocolate on baking paper then cover with 100s and 1000s and allow to set. Yummy...


Rating?
5 out of 5 reindeers!

On the second day of Christmas (Fruit Mince Pies)

Is anyone else here a massive fan of fruit mince pies? The wonderful soft and crumbly pastry and then that sweet and spicy fruit mince is definitely one of my favourite Christmas treats. In the past I have always bought store-made mince pies and have always thought they were pretty good, but this year I decided that it goes against my baking ethos to buy store-made and so I took on the challenge to bake my own.

For some reason I thought baking your own fruit mince pies would be a difficult and tedious task, however I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it is actually quite easy and they taste fantastic! The fruit mince is not as sickly sweet as it generally is when it is store-made and I think the variety of dried fruit used in this recipe really makes the pies.


So on with the recipe. First off you need to make your fruit mince...


Spiced Fruit Mince (from The Australian Women's Weekly - The Christmas Book)
Makes 14 cups

750g sultanas
750g raisins, chopped (I didn't chop mine)
450g dried currants
500g seeded dates, chopped
500g seeded prunes, chopped
2 large green-skinned apples, peeled and grated
200g brown sugar
2 tbsp finely grated orange rind
1 tbsp mixed spice
2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup plum jam
375ml brandy (I used unsweetened orange juice instead)

1. Mix all ingredients in large bowl.
2. Cover tightly with cling wrap and store in the fridge for at least 3 days before using (I had mine in the fridge for 2 weeks).
3. Stir the mixture once each day.
4. Mixture can be kept for 6 months.
   

Now that you have the fruit mince ready to go you just need to get the pastry ready and pop those babies in the oven.


Fruit Mince Pies (from The Australian Women's Weekly - The Christmas Book)
Makes 24

300g plain flour
150g unsalted butter, chilled
1 tsp finely grated orange rind
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp water, approximately (I only needed 1 tsp)
2 1/2 cups fruit mince
1 egg, lightly beaten, extra

1. Sift flour into medium bowl, rub in butter, stir in rind, oil and sugar.
2. Add egg and enough water to make ingredients cling together.
3. Turn onto floured surface; knead until smooth. Cover pastry and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. Roll pastry between 2 sheets of baking paper until 3mm thick. Cut 24 x 7.5cm rounds from pastry, re-rolling dough as necessary to make 24 rounds.
   
5. Place rounds into 2 greased 12-hole (2 tbsp capacity) patty pan trays.
   
6. Divide mince among pastry cases.
   
7. Roll remaining pastry out and cut out 24 small stars. Top the pies with the stars.
8. Brush pastry with extra egg.
9. Bake in a 180C oven for 20 minutes or until browned. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
10. Serve dusted with icing sugar.

Bottoms of the pies...


Filled with fruit mince, topped with a pastry star and brushed with egg wash ready for the oven...


Fresh out of the oven...


Dusting with icing sugar...


mmm yummy...


Rating
5 out of 5 reindeers!