PANONE FOR CHRISTMAS

I like to imagine so many of you spending Christmas with your loved ones, enjoying delicious food prepared with love and hopefully the kind of time and dedication we dream to have in everyday life.
There aren't many cooking posts on my blog, but this time I asked my friend -and wonderful cook- Stefania to think of a Italian recipe as a contribution to the Christmas spirit. She came up with Panone that we cooked not so long ago at my place.
It was really fun as this cake is really easy to make and a pleasure to the eye when preparing all ingredients.

You will need [for 2 panone cakes]:

500 gr flower

1 bag yeast for cakes (1 sachet for each 500 gr flower)

50 gr  toasted peeled almonds
100 gr raisins (left to soak in water or grappa beforehand)
100 gr toasted and peeled pinoli
150 gr sugar
300 gr orange marmalade (with peels)
grated skin of 1 lemon 
50 gr vanilla sugar
1 egg
3 small glasses of liquor (we used nocino)
100 gr melted butter
milk as necessary to obtain a batter that's not too liquid (sticky texture)
70 gr cacao
150 gr dark chocolate in chunks 
1 pinch of salt

candied fruits and honey for decoration

You may add:
100 gr  dried figs in pieces
100 gr toasted and peeled nuts 
100 gr toasted and peeled hazelnuts

Simply mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl first, then add all the liquid ones and stir well until the mix is sticky. At this point pour the mixture in a previously greased and dusted with some flower oven-dish (or disposable tin dish) and cook in the oven at 180° Celsius for about 40 minutes. Please check with a toothpick at the end of cooking time as each oven is different (with my own oven we needed 60 minutes).

Once well coocked and out of the oven, brush the top surface with slightly warm honey that will give the cake a nice glossy look. Finally, have fun decorate with candied fruits as desired.

If someone wish to try this one, please pop back in and let me know how it tasted.
I'd like to thanks Stefania for her lovely contribution, hoping to have her recipes featured on it's nice here again in the future.

* kitchen towel in picture one from talented illustrator Tina Backman

** More about her work in her interview here

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