My best mate’s cousin has a pigeon who sits outside Downing Street and apparently, according to the pigeon, Boris is about to put the UK into Tier 10. People say this is sobering news. Not if I can help it.

Helpfully, the pigeon also said that George Clooney’s favourite dessert is this week’s recipe: panettone pudding laced with Terry’s Chocolate Orange (basically an Italian bread and butter pudding).

This is a super simple showstopper. An English classic, using an Italian gem, topped off with everyone’s favourite Christmas chocolate.

This week’s album
A Motown Christmas by Various Artists

If you’ve bought a large turkey in Waitrose and are wondering whether you can swap it for 12 trays of Viennetta and an XL bottle of gin, ideally in-store, then the answer is sadly no.

Having said that, what you really should be swapping it for is a pack of panettone.

I honestly think panettone is the most underrated Christmas present out there. Delicious. Light. And always presented in a pretty tin. No one ever receives a panettone and says, “well that present’s just made 2020 worse.”

Originally from Milan, panettone (literally translated as ‘large cake’) is an Italian sweet bread. We’re going to buy ours fully formed, not least because it takes a while to actually make one. That process isn’t dissimilar to how you would make a sourdough, and it’s what gives the panettone its fluffiness.

Traditionally panettone contains candied orange, citron, lemon zest, and raisins, but people have their own variations - many of which also contain chocolate. Whatever it’s filled with, panettone is always ace with some sweet wine, mascarpone or jam.

Because it has fruit already in it, using panettone for bread and butter pudding is actually much more straightforward than using plain bread. You don’t need to buy additional raisins. In fact, given that most sane people get a Terry’s Chocolate Orange from Santa you may not need to buy anything extra for this week’s dish.

Of course you could use other types of chocolate but, to be honest, why bother? A Terry's Chocolate Orange screams Christmas, plus its orange flavour goes really well with the citrus in the panettone.

The below serves 4. It takes 10 mins to prep and 45 mins to cook.

50g butter

250g panettone

2 eggs

225ml milk

142ml pot of double cream

1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

2tbsps caster sugar

½ Terry’s Chocolate Orange (segments broken in half)

1. Preheat your oven to 160°c/140°c (fan). With a little of your butter, grease a suitably sized ovenproof dish. Pick a dish that will hold all the panettone and custard mixture, and will then fit inside a larger deep-sided roasting tray.


2. Slice your panettone into about 5 slices. Butter one side of each slice - using up all the butter - and then slice each piece in half.


3. Arrange the panettone slices, buttered side facing up, into your greased dish so that they overlap slightly.


4. Break up the Terry’s Chocolate Orange and scatter the pieces evenly throughout the panettone slices.


5. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs well until completely broken down. Then add in the cream, milk, and vanilla essence. Beat until fully incorporated and then mix through the sugar.


6. Pour this mixture evenly over the panettone and chocolate. Push the panettone down gently using the whisk and leave for 5 mins to ensure the mixture soaks into the bread.

Lay a wet tea towel inside your deep-sided roasting tray and place the panettone-filled dish on top of the tea towel. Fill the roasting tray with boiling water to a depth of about 1 inch. The tea towel helps steady the oven dish and - along with the hot water - prevents the custard mixture from cooking too quickly and unevenly.

Only 367 days till Christmas. Hope you’re getting excited.

Enjoy your time in the kitchen, whether it’s making a pudding or cooking a turkey. If you want any tips or tricks then just hit ‘reply’ and ask away. 

Speak again next week,

Fraser

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