Easy Peasy Pistachio Panettone

When Christmas comes, you only need to pick between being a Pandoro-kind-of-person, or you are wrong and don’t deserve our love, unless you will attempt to make this easy peasy Pistachio Panettone from my friend Martina.

Martina writes a blog in Italian, Le Ricette di Libellula, and has been blogging for years now – her recipes are always on point and this Panettone is the proof to the pudding – see what I did there?! Okay, I’ll stop.

I had planned a different recipe for today, but I completely failed that one, so badly that I got annoyed at everyone for everything. It was meant to be an easy Pandoro, yet it was the epic fail of the year.

So my delight was over the roof when Martina shared this Pistachio Panettone recipe on Facebook – bought everything I needed and I was baking shortly after.

EASY PEASY PISTACHIO PANETTONE

Yield: 1 x 750g Panettone

Pistachio Panettone

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An easy Pistachio Panettone from Martina at Le Ricette di Libellula.

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Additional Time 4 hours

Total Time 5 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients

For the Panettone

• 500g strong white flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 100g sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 5g dried yeast
• 100g butter
• 150ml water
• 100g pistachios, shelled

for the pistachio glaze

• 20ml fresh cream
• 100g white chocolate
• 50g pistachio cream
• 25g pistachios

Instructions

1. Place the flour in your standing mixer bowl and create a sort of hole in the middle: here you will place the yeast, sugar, chopped butter, eggs, egg yolk, vanilla and half the water. Incorporate well using the flat beater attachment.
2. Now change the attachment to the dough hook and add the leftover water and salt and let it run on medium speed for roughly 20 minutes, turning the dough upside down halfway through, and until the dough it's elastic and smooth.
3. Add the chopped pistachios and let them mix with the dough at low speed for a couple of minutes, then turn the dough upside down and let it go again for another couple of minutes.
4. Transfer the dough on a working space and do what the Italians call pirlatura: using the palms of your hands, roll the dough so that it takes a round shape and then transfer in an oiled bowl and let it rise until it triples in size (usually two hours).
5. Once it has tripled in size, transfer on the working space again and do the shaping with your palms again, then transfer in the panettone mould and let it rise until it gets to just a couple of fingers-space from the top.
6. Bake at 180°C for 45 minutes, making sure to check that it's not browning too quickly (if so, cover with some aluminium foil) and that a skewer inserted in comes out clean. Let it cool completely.
7. Prepare the glaze: add the cream in a pot and let it warm up, not boil, then remove from the heat. Add the white chocolate and mix until it's all melted and looks shiny. Add the pistachio cream and pour on the panettone, then drizzle with roughly chopped pistachios. We also added a swirl of pistachio cream on top to make it extra - we love pistachios around here.

This was easier to make than I expected, even though the recipe said it was going to be easy: these sort of bakes never are. They need time and love and a constant presence, which I am not really up to for now.

Yet, this Pistachio Panettone hit all the spots: it tasted like a proper one, it looked like a proper one, and it took more time to rest it than actually prep it – or eat it, for that matter.

When you taste it, you can expect to remember something like a brioche texture, with the addition of crunchy pistachios and a sweet topping that makes it look so professional.

Your family will love you forever for bringing it around for Christmas, and you will be the envy of that aunty of yours who’s been the baking queen for all these years.

Well – what else to say right now… More Christmas posts are just here for you to read and find some last-minute recipes, and I hope you’ll have a great one!