I didn't know what to expect when I picked out these candies from a long long list of choices. Panfor..wha? I wondered. I kinda knew, I kinda didn't, but I chose them anyways for my fifth week of Christmas cookies. So I was surprised to find out how much I loved these dainty Italian candies! (Panforte aren't candies, they're actually a really old (like 13th century old) Italian bread, but contain the same spices and nuts). Actually my sugar diet might have been temporarily postponed while I popped candy after candy into my mouth. They've got crunch and chew, lots of spice and complex flavours and at the end of it all, a nice chocolate finish. Picture it: seed-heavy chewy figs, crunchy toasty hazelnuts, a face full of orange flavour and a load of spices all dropped on top of a creamy, smooth chocolate disk. Wham! I mean, come on! How can that not make you wanna gobble three...or five of them. I'm going to be making a huge batch of these come Christmas, to share. As an added bonus to all this wonderfulness (as if it weren't enough!) they were a cinch to make. They took all of fifteen minutes from start to finish. It's like aces in your back pocket when the Christmas invites start rolling in. Gotta love it!
Baking notes:
-I chopped my figs much finer than quarters. I was aiming for a more even distribution in the mix.
-It may seem like a lot of spice, but it totally mellows out. Dump it in!
-I chopped my hazelnuts pretty fine as well.
-I never measure out orange zest. I just zested the whole orange into the pot.
44/569
The recipe for Chocolate Panforte Candies can be found on the epicurious website.
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