Panettone Muffins

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Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a very nice holiday! We’re back today with a delicious Panettone Muffin recipe that you’re sure to love!

This is a recipe that we made for the first time last week, just before heading up to spend a few days in the White Mountains of New Hampshire visiting with my side of the family. We served these panettone muffins for breakfast over the weekend. Everyone loved them – and of course – they asked if the recipe was on our blog…so here it is!

These panettone muffins are an easy and very delicious way to enjoy classic Italian flavors – without all the work! Panettone is a sweet Italian bread that is traditionally served at Christmas and New Year’s. It is best known as a tall, dome-shaped yeast bread that is light in texture and studded with a mix of dried fruits. Originally from the bakeries of Milan, Italy, it can take up to 20 hours to prepare a classic panettone because the yeast bread rises three times!

But these Panettone Muffins are a great alternative if you don’t have the time to make the classic bread version! These muffins are moist and delicious and studded with a mix of diced dried fruits including apricots, raisins, pineapple, dates and dried cranberries. The muffin batter mixes up easily and is flavored with Fiori di Sicilia – an extract that combines vanilla, citrus and floral essences – giving these muffins the same distinctive flavor of the classic panettone.

We hope you enjoy these muffins as much as our family did! This recipe was adapted from King Arthur Flour.

Panettone Muffins

If you can’t find Fiori di Sicilia, you can substitute a mix of vanilla and orange extracts instead. If you prefer, you can soak the dried fruit in ¼ cup orange juice instead of a 50/50 mix of orange juice and rum.

Prep Time: 25 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients

1½ cups diced dried fruit (a mix of dried apricots, raisins, pineapple, dates and cranberries)
1/8 cup orange juice
1/8 cup rum
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
¼ teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia (or a mix of vanilla and orange extracts)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup milk
2 heaping tablespoons coarse sugar (such as Demerara, Turbinado or white sparkling sugar), for topping

Instructions

In a medium bowl, mix the diced dried fruit, orange juice and rum and stir to combine. Heat the bowl of fruit in the microwave on high until steaming hot. Stir again and let sit for 5 minutes. Then pour the fruit and juice/rum mixture out onto a plate and allow the fruit to cool to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12-muffin tin with paper liners and spray each cup with non-stick cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk to combine. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, vegetable oil and sugar and beat until smooth. Add the eggs – one at a time – mixing after each addition.
Stir in the fiori di sicilia and vanilla extracts.
Alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk to the butter mixture, mixing after each addition and beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Stir until thoroughly combined.
Stir in the fruit and any remaining liquid, stirring again until evenly mixed.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, dividing the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops of the batter with the coarse sugar.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out cleanly. (They will be a pale golden color.)
Remove from the oven. As soon as they are cool enough to handle, transfer the muffins to a rack to cool completely.

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