So in my last diary, I once again brought up a recipe that I had brought forward as a tradition (of sorts), namely Mom’s chicken pot pie. Tonight, I’ll be talking about a new tradition, one that I started on my own, then stopped, then started again.
First, I have to call everyone’s attention to Marie and her marvelous website The English Kitchen. Make what jokes you will about British cuisine, but this site is second only to Chef John’s in the number of recipes I’ve cribbed. Plus, she’s originally from the harsh and unforgiving East coast of Canada, before she moved to England (then back again). Frankly, I can’t believe I’ve never given this site a mention. I actually made toad-in-the-hole once, just because of the name and just because I could. I liked it, but Mrs. Spectre didn’t care for the Yorkshire pudding part of it. The onion gravy, though, gets used frequently; but I digress….
Anyway, the holiday traidition I’ll be discussing involves panettone. For those unfamiliar, panettone is an Italian sweet bread, usually produced for the holiday season. There are, of course, many variations to the classic panettone, but it generally contains raisins, candied orange, and citron—kind of like a fruitcake, but light bread instead of heavy cake, and thus not appropriate for use as a doorstop. I would include a recipe for making it, but it takes several days and it isn’t anything I’ve ever been tempted to try, and I don’t post recipes unless I’ve made and mastered them.
There are other variations of panettone, including chocolate, vanilla, and lemon, which typically don’t contain the fruit of a classic panettone. I used to get the lemon variety, by the Italian baking company Bauducco, at Cost Plus World Market, specifically to use in this following delicious recipe. However, a recent trip there came up empty, but I did find it elsewhere. But I don’t see why you couldn’t use another brand. from the aforementioned website [recipe link]:
LEMON PANETTONE PUDDING
3 1/2 T softened butter
5 thick slices of lemon panettone
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
5 ounces heavy whipping cream
1 c whole milk
1/2 t orange extract
1/2 t vanilla extract
2 T caster sugar (or regular sugar)
Powdered sugar to dust
Lightly whipped cream to serve (optional)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 7 x 11 (or 9 x 13) baking dish. A 10- or 11-inch pie plate will do in a pinch.
Slice the panettone horizontally and butter one side, then cut slices into chunks. Place into baking dish, butter side up. Whisk together other ingredients. Pour over bread.
Have ready a large shallow roasting pan. Place the dish of panettone into it and fill the pan with water to half way up the sides of the baking dish. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the pudding is golden brown and just set. It should still be yellow inside and a tiny bit jiggly.
Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm with dollops of lightly whipped cream if desired.
NOTES: The pannetone I use for this is 26.5 ounces, so you may need to adjust if using a smaller/larger one. Also, when cooking using a water bath, I find it useful, if not imperative, to make sure that I have a pan that will fit into another pan before I start mixing ingredients. And yes, I did learn this the hard way...
I made this one year around Christmas, and it was simply marvelous! After that, I made it every year for the holidays. Unfortunately, Bauducco stopped making the lemon version, or at least, they stopped selling it round these parts. I could find the vanilla version, and I could find a lemon version of other brands online, but they were twice the price, so no. And the local Italian bakery only makes the classic version. So I did without for a couple years, until I said to myself, “Well, wait a minute… why not see if I can adapt the recipe, using a vanilla panettone?” So I did, and it is nearly as good as the original. (Of course, this year, I finally found lemon versions in local stores.) The cooking instructions for the recipe below are the same as for the one above, so I didn’t bother repeating them, but I did highlight the different ingredients in bold. Note that the vanilla and orange extracts of the original recipe are omitted in the adapted recipe below, which gives it a less complex flavor—so substitute as you see fit.
LEMON PANETTONE PUDDING
(a slight reprise)
3 1/2 T softened butter
5 thick slices of vanilla panettone
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
5 ounces heavy whipping cream
1 c whole milk
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2 t lemon extract
2 T caster sugar (or regular sugar)
Powdered sugar to dust
Lightly whipped cream to serve (optional)
Made this before Thanksgiving, just to make sure the adapted recipe worked. And it did! Unfortunately, now I have to make it again around Christmas, because, you know…. tradition. Oh, the sacrifices I make….
Also, Bauducco (and maybe other companies) makes mini-panettones, so if you don’t want to make a big dessert—because this one makes 8-10 servings—that’s an option. Two mini’s make about 1/4 of a big panettone, but check the net weights to be sure. Then adapt accordingly on ingredient amounts and size of baking dish. The interwebs have lots of measurement conversion websites, should you need one.
Happy holidays!