Ciao Gusto Authentic Italian Cuisine

I absolutely love a Christmas hamper, and usually make at least one up for members of the family. This year I bought a lovely crate from Waitrose for just £5 and filled it with goodies for my parents. My mum often gives hampers too so I guess we have hamper giving in our blood. She's much better at the ribbon curling than me though so mine are usually finished with a bow.

I think the lovely people at Ciao Gusto must've known about my love of hampers and sent me this amazing basket filled with Italian goodies.

If you're not familiar with Ciao Gusto, they are a unique family of iconic Italian food and drink brands, such as Lavazza, Cirio, Barilla and Filippo Berio, to name a few. There's a dedicated Ciao Gusto shop online at Ocado where you can find all the authentic Italian foods that you need.

The Ciao Gusto site is full of recipe inspiration to get the best out of your ingredients, and I'm particularly keen to try the Cheese & Amarena Cherry Tartlets as I love a cheese & fruit combo, and these will make a great appetiser over the festive period.

I couldn't wait to tuck into the mini panettone, and made it into an indulgent dessert using cherry jam, mascarpone and a drizzle of Prosecco, inspired by one of the Ciao Gusto recipes.

SERVE WITH A GLASS OR TWO OF PROSECCO

Panettone Dessert for one (or maybe 2 if you're feeling generous)

1 small Bauli Panettone (100g)
130g mascarpone
75g Santa Rosa Italian Cherry Jam
1-2 tbsp Prosecco
10-20g dark chocolate, grated

• Slice the panettone into 5 equal slices
• fold the mascarpone, jam, prosecco and grated chocolate together (reserving a little for decoration)
• spread or pipe the mascarpone filling in between slices of panettone
• top with grated chocolate before serving with a large glass of Prosecco

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I was provided with a Ciao Gusto hamper in exchange for this post

Fruit & Nut Panettone

I think I've only ever tried Panettone once previously and could never understand what the fuss was all about as it just seemed like a stale fruit loaf. That was until I tried a Selfridges Panettone that I received in a hamper. This was gorgeous, so soft and not at all dry, and filled with big pieces of fruit.

I knew that I wouldn't be able to recreate this moist & sticky loaf but when I received a Silverwood Panettone tin from Lakeland I thought I would give it a bash.

Although there is a recipe on the Lakeland website it uses fresh yeast & as I only have the dried variety I opted not to use this one, to be on the safe side, and instead followed a recipe on the BBC Good Food site, with a few amendments.

Not having made Panettone before I was unsure what the dough consistency should be like. Mine was quite sticky but I decided not to add anymore flour as I know that a very sticky Focaccia dough produces a very light bread. Despite my loaf not doming on the top it rose considerably in the tin, right to the top, although after slicing the loaf it would appear that it decided not to take most of the dried fruit with it on it's rise to the top!

The resulting loaf however is very light and airy and delicious on it's own, slathered with butter or toasted.

Fruit & Nut Panettone

6 tbsp warm water
2 x 7g sachets dried yeast
500g Strong white bread flour
125ml warm milk
125g caster sugar
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
180g butter, softened
1 tsp mixed spice
300g dried mixed fruit
100g pecans
Beaten egg or milk for brushing
18cm x 18cm Panettone tin

• Warm a small bowl by rinsing in hot water
• Add the warm water and one sachet of yeast, mix & leave until dissolved
• Stir in 60g of flour, cover and leave for 30 minutes
• Sprinkle the other sachet of yeast over the warm milk, mix and leave until dissolved
• Beat together the sugar, eggs and egg yolks
• Stir in the milk/yeast mixture and the yeast/flour mixture, mix well
• Mix together the remaining flour & softened butter until crumbly
• Beat the flour/butter & mixed spice into the egg mixture on high speed for 3-4 minutes, until the dough is elastic
• Add the fruit & nuts and combine
• Put the dough into an oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place for 2-3 hours
• Rub the insides of the Panettone tin with butter and sprinkle with flour
• Add the dough to the tin, cover and leave in a warm place until the dough has reached the top of the tin (approx 1.5 - 2 hours)
• Brush the top of the dough with an egg wash or milk
• Bake in a preheated 200C oven for 10 minutes
• Reduce the temperature to 190C and bake for an additional 30 minutes, until an inserted skewer comes out clean
• Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before turning out and cooling fully on a wire rack

Next time I'm determined to get the dough to rise up out of the pan and hoping for a proper muffin top!

I was provided with the Panettone tin for the purpose of this post