There is no Christmas... with no Panettone and we have a Healthy Vegan option for you
Panettone is a typical festive cake originally made in Milan, linked to the Italian Christmas culinary traditions. The cake has a cylindrical shape and the original version contains: candied citron, lemon zest, orange and raisins and it is often served with sweet delicious hot beverages such as: Moscato d’Asti.
Some Italians love to taste their panettone with the famous “crema di mascarpone”, a sweet cream made from mascarpone cheese, eggs, dried and candid fruits whilst sipping a sweet liquor which usually is the Amaretto.
The origins of the Panettone, the most exquisite Milanese dessert are very ancient and are still not fully confirmed. However, according to multiple sources the term “Panettone” actually derives from “Pan de Toni” meaning “Toni’s Bread”. Toni was a chef in service at the court of Ludovico Il Moro who mistakenly burned the cake that had to be served at the end of a Christmas Eve banquet.
To recover from his terrible mistake, Toni managed to grab some essential leftovers such as: eggs, yeast with flour, sugar, raisins and candid fruits and obtained in such way, for the first time ever a sweet soft and leavened cake that still nowadays never misses an Italian family Christmas table.
Another legend narrates and sees the Panettone as the protagonist of a true love story between Ughetto of Atellani, a noble falconer of the Duke who lived in Milan and Adalgisa, the beautiful daughter of a baker, Toni, who had high economic difficulties. Ughetto, very kindly offered to help Adalgisa’s father to conquer the heart of his daughter, and prepared a sublime sweet bread containing raisins and dried fruits. This bread become so successful, that it managed to raise the baker’s economic stability and allowed the two young lovers to marry and live happily every after.
HEALTHY PANETTONE RECIPE
Ingredients
400g Flavored Natural Almond Flour (Gluten-Free)
2 Flax Vegan Eggs or 2 Organic Eggs (healthy but not Vegan Option)
1 Natural Almond Milk Glass
10g Vanilla Essence
10-15g Powdered Stevia
80g Unsweetened dried fruit and raisins
10g Baking powder
10g Baking soda
5g Coconut oil
FOR THE flax VEGAN eggs
2 tbsp of Ground Flax Seeds
6 tbsp of Water
Mix the flax seeds and the water together and let them sit for 10 minutes
Serves
8 people
DIRECTIONS
Place all of the ingredients in a blender except for the dried fruit and the coconut oil and mix everything together until you get a homogeneous dough.
When the dough is ready, add the dried fruit and stir gently until all of the ingredients are spread evenly. Grease the panettone mould with the coconut oil and then gently pour the dough into the mould and place in the oven at 175ºC for 30 minutes.
Check your delicious cake often, by piercing it with a toothpick. When the toothpick comes out clean, it means that the Panettone is baked. Once ready, wait for it to cool before serving.
Decorate your healthy vegan panettone with chocolate fudge and mixed nuts to give it an extra exquisite taste !