After the Panettone I had this year I would suggest using it as a(n): anchor; door-stop; or weapon.

Hi all,

Those of you who are claiming that pannetone is useful as a door stop, are you thinking of "panforte"?

((I))

haha flanneruk. I was thinking of putting it in the waterless vase to stabilize the flower arrangement.

A fresh panettone is fluffy and not like those christmas fruit cakes I once used as a hockey puck.

I have a great recipe for panettone stuffed with ice cream. Soften some good French vanilla ice cream and fold in nuts, chopped chocolate and any candied fruits that you like. Hollow out the panettone (save the pieces for bread pudding) and stuff the bread with the ice cream. Freeze for a few hours, and serve as an elegant dessert!

Thinking ahead for next Christmas: Williams-Sonoma makes a wonderful, wonderful pannettone, and it is, as Cigale says, a light bread and could never be compared to a hockey puck or door stop. I think some must be confusing it with panforte, which, although heavy and dense, is very good, IMO.

I made this recipe for a Xmas party, and got lots of compliments. It was so easy:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/reci..._29086,00.html

All those years of my Italian neighbors giving me a Panettone for Xmas -- now I know what to do with it! Thanks for starting this thread.

BTW - The Trader Joe's Panettone I used this year was excellent -- moist and fluffy. :)

Ira,

Your post got me to thinking - was it panforte?

Nope - it was panettone. From Trader Joe's (I think). If you give me your address I'll send you the rest.

Bird,

Too funny. We must have been posting at the same time, with two different reviews of the Trader Joe's Panettone.

Could it be that yours was a "re-gifted" 2004 vintage. :D

Ivk,

Since it was a gift from my sister-in law, I'll wager it was more of a 1999 vintage.

BTW - I have eaten a panettone from Williams-Sonoma that was much better.

For years I saw panettone in Marshalls and thought. "eech!...probably not very good" but this year I tried the red one at our best supermarket and was blown away by it and I ate the whole thing in two days by myself..
It tasted so delicate light and fine.. vanilla and the fruit was so soft and moist (like french candied fruit with no flavor of presevatives).yes thay must be thinking of Panforte (yuck)
I also searched an authentic recipe and discovered that it is very complex to get right .This is one recipe that is better made commercially IMO..
.question..How long does it take to go stale??

"...How long does it take to go stale??"

If the ones I received this Christmas are anything to go by (and this year I received a record 3, plus a minature one thats supposed to be hung on the tree as an ornament at the risk of lop-siding the tree), about 40 minutes.

During our recent trip to Tuscany for Christmas, the owner of the villa where we were staying gave us a Panettone as a gift. No one in our group wanted to eat it but we also didn't want to throw it in the garbage for fear of offending said owner. So, we carted it along on the next leg of our trip, to Rome for New Years. Here the teen boys in our group put it to good use. They hollowed out the top, filled it with fireworks and blew it up in a piazza late one night. It was quite spectacular. We'll always have fond memories of that Christmas Panettone.

Scarlett -- how many eggs? how much milk? That sounds delicious, but I've never made bread pudding and am afraid of making bread soup. ((?))
((c))

The link I posted above has a very easy and delicious recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/reci..._29086,00.html

If you go to foodnetwork.com and type Panettone in the search box, you will find several others.