Life begins at forte

Panforte, that is.

And now I have to apologise for the worst-ever post title *takes a bow*

It’s been a bit flat-out this week and I’m definitely not a fan of leaving work when it’s dark; it would feel like the middle of winter if it wasn’t so mild (13C outside at 7pm in November?!)

Having said that, I did feel a bit chilly when I got in tonight, as it thoughtfully started pouring with rain approximately 2.8 seconds after I’d got to the yard. We’re not talking showers here, we’re talking so heavy, it was difficult to walk through 🙂

But talking of winter, the only good thing about it, apart from its ending, is Christmas, which leads me neatly on to this:

I love the 12 Weeks of Cookies and Sweets challenge because it’s making me get creative and make things I hadn’t made before – like panforte. I saw on Jemma’s blog a while ago that she’d bought some in Florence and when I was wondering what to do for this week, I remembered just how good it is.

I looked at loads of different recipes and ended up with one of my own:

Preheat oven to 175C and line an 8×8 baking tin.

70g blanched almonds

70g pecans

210g chopped mixed peel (a supposedly 200g tub but with that much in it, randomly)

40g dates, chopped

70g rice flour

100g caster sugar

1 1/2tbsp rapeseed oil

3tbsp agave

Zest of one lemon

1/2tsp ground mixed spice

Icing sugar, for dusting

Toast the nuts, in separate trays, as they might be done at different times. When they’re ready, chop roughly or put them in a tough plastic bag and attack them with a rolling pin.

In a large bowl, mix nuts, peel, dates, zest, flour and spice and mix really well.

Gently heat together the oil, agave and sugar until smooth and the sugar’s pretty much dissolved. Pour over the nut mix and mix really well, quickly as it’ll set fast. Scoop into the lined tin and press down (it helps to have wet hands so it doesn’t stick).

Bake for about 20 minutes till golden and leave to cool fully in the tin.

Once it’s cool, sieve icing sugar over the top and cut into chunks.

Apparently, panforte keeps for ages. I don’t know whether I’m going to find out 🙂

And before I go, we haven’t had one of these for ages:

Is it a carrot? Is it a crustacean? Who knows?!