Italian Cheese Trio With Panforte

Total Time: 1 hr Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 16
• 1 cup hazelnuts
• 1 cup unskinned almonds
• 2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 2 teaspoons fennel seeds, lightly crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 orange, zest of, grated
• 8 ounces dried figs, thinly sliced
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup honey
• 1 1/2 lbs gorgonzola, dolce (assorted italian cheeses) or 1 1/2 lbs parmigiano-reggiano cheese (assorted italian cheeses) or 1 1/2 lbs taleggio (assorted italian cheeses)

Recipe

• 1 preheat the oven to 350°. toast the hazelnuts and almonds on a rimmed baking sheet until fragrant and lightly colored inside, about 15 minutes. let cool, then chop coarsely. reduce oven temp to 300°.
• 2 butter the bottom and sides of an 8-in tart pan with a removable bottom.
• 3 in a large bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, fennel seed, cinnamon, cloves, and orange zest. add the nuts and figs and stir to coat.
• 4 in a small saucepan, heat the sugar and honey over low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. raise the heat to medium and cook, without stirring, until the mixture reaches 245° on a candy thermometer, 2-3 minutes. immediately pour over the nut mixture. working quickly, stir until the dry ingredients are coated; the mixture will be stiff. transfer to the prepared pan, spreading it evenly with a wooden spoon dipped in cold water. bake for 40 minutes. the mixture will still be tacky to the touch. cool the panforte completely on a rack, then remove from the pan. slice into 16 thin wedges. pass the cheeses and panforte separately.