Years ago I discovered a great recipe for using panettone and made a strawberry Zucotto. Everyone really enjoyed it and thought it was such a good idea as you always end up with at least half a panettone that no one knows what to do with. This is a great alternative to using the leftovers as a bread and butter pudding in our warmer months and a nice way to incorporate the Italian Christmas tradition into your own Christmas or New Year celebrations.
The great thing about this recipe is you can make it a few days before and leave it covered in the refrigerator until you need it. It makes a lovely addition to a Christmas dessert table if you have a large number of guests or even better for a dessert on Christmas Eve, Boxing Day or New Year’s Eve when you don’t feel like cooking. Terrific also if you are travelling somewhere where you need to bring a dessert. It packs easily into an esky with an ice-pack in its original pudding basin for a long drive.
The addition of the fresh cherries in the centre makes it a much lighter, fresher dessert than the traditional.
Ingredients: Serves 10-12
100g hazelnuts
1/2 (about 400g) large panettone or most of the smaller size
3tbsp Cointreau liqueur
juice 1 orange (remove rind and reserve before juicing)
500g fresh ricotta
1 x 250g ctn mascarpone
80g (1/2 cup) icing sugar mixture
100g 70% dark chocolate, finely chopped
2 tbs finely grated orange rind
200g fresh pitted and halved cherries
Cocoa powder, to dust
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180°C. Spread the hazelnuts over a baking tray. Bake in oven for 5-10 minutes or until toasted. Place hazelnuts in a clean tea towel and rub to remove the skins. Coarsely chop.
- Use a serrated knife to cut panettone lengthways into six 1.5cm-thick slices. Arrange the 3 largest slices, overlapping slightly, around the side of a 2L (8-cup) capacity pudding basin. Place smallest piece of panettone in the base of pudding basin. Brush panettone with about two-thirds of the orange juice and Cointreau which have been combined making sure you cover all the sides and the base.
- Use an electric beater to beat ricotta, mascarpone and icing sugar in a bowl until smooth. Stir in hazelnuts, chocolate and orange rind until combined. Spoon half the ricotta mixture into the lined pudding basin, pressing firmly.
- Top with another layer of panettone which has been brushed on one side with the orange juice mixture
- Now layer pitted cherries over the panettone and top with remaining ricotta mixture.
- Top with remaining panettone slice brush with the remaining Cointreau. Place on top of this layer of pudding to enclose filling. Cover pudding basin with plastic wrap that comes over the sides of the basin and place in the fridge with a weight on top for 6 hours or overnight to chill. Use some cans from the pantry as your weights.
Turn pudding onto a plate and dust with cocoa powder. Cut into wedges and serve with vanilla ice-cream 🙂
Recipe adapted from Taste.com
I’ve never heard of this but you’re right, there’s always about 1/2 to 2/3 of a panettone left over at our house. What a clever way to make it new again.