Ahhh the scents of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg filling the kitchen as a festive bake is in the oven…Delightful! A traditional chewy Italian dessert containing fruits and nuts, this Panforte is a gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan and no refined sugar version containing dried blueberries for a tasty twist.
Working in [paid] collaboration with Indigo Herbs, this would be great to make ahead of time in the run up to Christmas. Use whatever dried fruit and nuts you like, even flavour it with orange or lemon zest if you fancy it. And of course, it’s up to you if you’d like to add in alcohol or fruit juice to complete this delicious festive dessert.
Ingredients:
- 300g mixed nuts and/or seeds (I used walnuts, pumpkin seeds and almonds)
- 100g Indigo Herbs dried blueberries
- 75g dates, chopped
- 75g dried apricots, chopped
- 50g Indigo Herbs brown rice flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- ΒΌ teaspoon nutmeg
- 125g Indigo Herbs maple syrup
- 120g Indigo Herbs coconut sugar
- 3 tablespoons apple juice or Marsala for an alcoholic twist
Get making!
- Preheat the oven to 160C and grease and line a 20cm loose bottomed cake tin.
- Roughly chop half the nuts and seeds then mix together with the dried blueberries, dates, apricots, flour and spices in a bowl.
- Place the maple syrup, coconut sugar and apple juice or wine into a pan and allow to bubble over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes.
- Pour this over the dry ingredients and mix well, then spoon into the tin and smooth out evenly. Bake for 30 minutes until soft but not sticky.
- Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then pop out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with coconut milk powder sifted through a sieve, cut into 8-10 slices and enjoy!
