Well, I didn't win. But I'm still really proud of my effort. Especially when you know that recipe development is not my forte. I had entered Scharffenberger Chocolate's yearly Chocolate Adventure contest. The 2012 theme had been Cookie Sandwiches.
Another fact about me is that I don't care for fruit and chocolate. I'm a nuts and chews girl. So don't give me chocolate covered cherries or a chocolate cake that has raspberry jam in the center. Yuck. Yet last year I learned that having a bit of fruit, chopped up, can really add nice texture to cookies. Thank you, Yigit Pura.
And I do like a good panforte. Panforte means "strong bread" in Italian. But it's more dessert than bread. The best description is that it is an Italian fruit cake, although it is really closer to a candy than a baked good. It's so rich that you only eat a sliver at a time. Like all those jokes about fruit cakes lasting for years, panforte will last a long time. It was because of this that it was often carried by travelers in the Middle Ages. You can store it in a cupboard, no need to refrigerate, for weeks.
