Vegan Cranberry Panforte
Vegan cranberry panforte is delicious served up with a coffee, or a glass of dessert wine! This chocolatey twist on a traditional Italian confection also makes a great gift.
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This chocolate and cranberry confection makes a delicious treat for the festive season. It’s perfect to serve with a coffee for breakfast or as a mid-afternoon snack, and it goes beautifully with a glass of dessert wine for an after dinner indulgence.
It also makes a wonderful gift, sliced and presented in a decorative box or bag.
With almonds, apricots, and cranberries, this sweet, chewy vegan cranberry panforte is a tasty treat filled with Christmas flavour.
What is panforte?
Panforte (literally, ‘strong bread’ in Italian) is a traditional Italian ‘fruit cake’, which actually sits somewhere between being a cake and a florentine.
It’s filled with sweet, sticky ingredients and baked until just set, giving it a satisfyingly chewy texture.
This vegan cranberry panforte has an extra chocolate twist and uses maple syrup instead of the traditional honey.
It’s also made with rice flour, meaning this vegan recipe is also suitable for those following a gluten-free diet.
Servings: 16
Rating:
Servings: 16
Ingredients
Method
Ingredients
(Servings: 16)
- 15 15 g roasted almonds, whole
- 5 5 g dried apricots, chopped
- 5 5 g dried cranberries
- 6.875 6.875 g rice flour
- 0.0625 0.0625 tbsp cocoa powder
- 0.1875 0.1875 tsp ground cinnamon, divided
- 3.75 3.75 g sugar
- 11.25 11.25 ml maple syrup or vegan honey
- 10.625 10.625 g semi-sweet, dairy-free chocolate chips or chunks
- 0.0625 0.0625 tsp espresso granules
- dairy-free butter, for greasing
- 0.0625 0.0625 tbsp cocoa powder, for dusting (optional)
Method
- Preheat oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas 2. In a large bowl, combine the almonds, chopped apricots, cranberries, flour, cocoa powder and 2 teaspoons of the cinnamon.
- Coat the bottom of an 8-inch round baking dish with dairy-free butter, then line with a piece of parchment paper, allowing it to extend over the sides of the pan.
- In a heavy-based saucepan, on medium heat, combine the sugar and maple syrup/ coconut honey and let simmer. Then add the chocolate, coffee granules, remaining
teaspoon of cinnamon, and allow the mixture to come to a boil. Once the mixture has come to a light boil, turn down the heat and simmer again for 2 minutes. - Remove from the heat and add to the chocolate and nut mixture, stirring quickly as the mixture will stiffen. Spread the mixture into the prepared baking dish and bake for 25 minutes (you will see the top begin to blister). Remove from the oven, dust the top with the cocoa powder and allow to cool on a cooling rack for at least 2 hours.
- Pull the panforte out by the sides of the parchment paper, peel off the parchment and cut into wedges before serving.
Nutritional information per serving (59g): Calories 250, Fat 12g, Saturates 3.3g, Sugars 20g, Salt 0.2g
For more festive food inspiration try one of these vegan Christmas recipes
