Panforte

[Vagus]

Just bought the ingredients to make this tomorrow, hope it turns out as good as it sounds. Saw the recipe on the BBC website so thought we’d have a bash.
Anyone made it, and did you enjoy it?

[gingejbee]

Haven't made one....but did buy several in Waitrose a few years ago. Reduced after Christmas from £6 to £1.50, I remember. Like eating a concentrated version of fruit and nut cake - without the cake. Only tiny pieces eaten at any one time....nice though!

[pastafreak]

I've never made it, but I'd sure like to try. A lot of recipes slso have black pepper in them...that appeals to me. I'd also use figs rather than apricots.

[Vagus]

Yes, ginge, I think that how best to eat it...little bits at a time, seems very rich, and surprisingly chewy some of the recipes say.
We couldn’t get figs pasta, but bought cranberries instead, along with some cherries.
From looking at various recipes it doesn’t really seem to matter what fruits and nuts you use. And some say it’s like florentine’s but thicker, which we love.

[Vagus]

Oh yes, black pepper will be going in :)

[pastafreak]

Hmmm...I saw figs the other day. Either Sainsbury's or M and S. I'll look tomorrow. As a child, there were always dried figs on offer at Christmas. I liked them...even though they looked weird to me.

[ummmm]

Both dried and fresh figs are lovely.

[Vagus]

Neither of us are very keen on figs, fresh or dried, it’s the tiny seeds I think. But if we could have bought them (Sainsbury’s) then they’d be going in.
I doubt our panforte will be a disaster without them, especially with all the other dried fruit.

[pastafreak]

Oh I'm sure it will be fine. Do let us know how it turns out. Apparently it keeps for months.
Ummmm...I only discovered fresh figs 5 or so years ago. I adore them.

[Vagus]

Well....it tastes lovely, but welded itself to the pan and was a real pain to remove. Upshot is, we have a plateful of sticky toffee fruit and nut stuff in lumps, and a bent loose bottomed pan in the bin.
It was easy enough to make, and as I said, these lumps of if taste really nice, but how anyone gets it out in one complete circle and cuts it into 20 slices is beyond me.
Won’t be making it again.