Macadamia And Ginger Panforte

Total Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper, ground
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup crystallized ginger, roughly chopped
• 2 cups macadamia nuts, chopped, roughly toasted
• 1 cup corn syrup
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla essence
• icing sugar (for dusting)

Recipe

• 1 sift the flour, cocoa, mixed spice, pepper and cinnamon into a large bowl. stir in ginger and nuts, make a well in the centre.
• 2 warm the syrup in a saucepan over a low heat. sprinkle in castor sugar and stir continuously until sugar has dissolved.
• 3 add vanilla essence and bring to the boil.
• 4 once the mixture is boiling remove it from the heat and allow the bubbles to subside.
• 5 pour the liquid into the well in the dry ingredients and mix with a sturdy wooden spoon until incorporated. the mixture become quite hard to mix.
• 6 press the dough into a well-greased 23cm spring-form cake tin lined with baking paper and press down firmly with your hands.
• 7 if your hands get sticky, wet them slightly.
• 8 bake at 170 c for 30 minutes. the centre will be soft and the edges firm.
• 9 cool in tin for at least 30 minutes before turning out on to a cake rack. cool thoroughly. if possible, keep the panforte in an airtight container 2 - 3 days.
• 10 serve dusted with a thick layer of icing sugar and cut into tiny wedges.
• 11 if making small panforte, divide the mixture between four 10cm greased cake tins lined with baking paper. bake at 170 c for 20 minutes.