{Christmas Food} Cranberry and Chocolate Panetone

When I saw this recipe for Choc Cherry Panettone on The Pink Whisk blog as one of the 12 days of Christmas bakes, I just knew I really wanted to make it. And so when I was asked to make something sweet for a Christmas party, I decided to go for it. I made them fresh and I was only able to take a few photos before they were served, but I thought I'd share anyway.

In terms of taste, it wasn't like one of your average shop brought panettone. There is no alcohol in them or the usual additions raisins and peel mix, and the texture is slightly different, more muffin-like. The sweeter taste comes from the enriched dough as well as the chocolate and cranberries.

I ended up using dried cranberries instead of cherries and they were cheaper and maybe a little more Christmassy. It really was a day-long process, with several steps in-between rises. I started the dough at about 9:30am, and the panettones were finished at 4:30pm. The recipe instructions were very clear and easy to follow, and having step-by-step photos was great when I needed more clarification on what the dough should look like at each stage. I doubled the quantities to make 24 muffin size panettones. We only had one muffin pan with 12 holes so I decided to rise half of the balls of dough in a shallower pan and then transfer for baking. This didn't really work and they squashed down when I transferred them.
These were really worth the time spent in the kitchen and really enjoyable to make, and everybody loved the taste… I might even say they were the perfect Christmas bake.