Panettone Cake Pops

I love panettone—like an ungodly amount. If you don’t believe me, you can read about my quest to find the perfect panettone here. But while I love trying all sorts of panettone, that means that I’m always stuck with half eaten loaves after picking up another interesting looking Christmas cake at the store. And since I hate wasting food (and money lol), repurposing panettone has become a passion of mine, which is why I whipped up this recipe for panettone cake pops.

If my UniSG friends are reading this, they already know that last year my go-to recipe for reinventing panettone was Jamie Oliver’s Panettone Bread Pudding. After my mom made it at Christmas years before, it made me swoon and literally changed my attitude towards leftover panettone forever. As you can imagine, with gastronomes for friends, the holiday season was spent getting together and exchanging panettone and pandoro veryyyyyyyy frequently, which means that I made panettone bread pudding on the regular!

And while I do love panettone bread pudding, it can be a rich dish, which isn’t ideal unless you’ve got someone (read: many people) to share it with. This is precisely why panettone cake pops are the perfect solution. With the same decadence, these bite-sized morsels are perfect for when you want just a little something sweet!

I happened to have a Tre Marie Caramel Dorè sitting around, but you can use literally any kind of panettone. This one happened to be filled with candied pears and covered in caramel-infused white chocolate and slivered almonds, but a regular (or fancy dancy) panettone also works. No need to scrape off the glaze, that part just adds extra luxuriousness to your cake pops!

This isn’t a difficult recipe by far and it certainly breathes some life into a panettone that you may have become bored with. Not to mention, it’s a great way to be sustainable and reduce waste. Plus, it’s a crowd pleaser in a pinch!

While I still have a bit of panettone left, I think I’m going to cut it into bite-sized pieces and save it for a rainy day when I’m in the mood to make my panettone gelato. Or maybe I’ll just make more cake pops again—time will tell.

If you’re a cake pop lover and have never tried experimenting with panettone, I’m telling you, it’s a game changer. Give these panettone cake pops a go and let me know how it goes below!

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Panettone Cake Pops

* Makes 12 cake pops *

INGREDIENTS

• 1/3 leftover panettone, crumbled

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• 1 tablespoon milk

• 2 dark chocolate bars

• 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

METHOD

1. Into a large bowl, add crumble panettone. Set aside.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and milk. If you find that the icing is too thick, you can add an extra spoonful of milk.

3. Add icing to the panettone and mix until the consistency is like playdough. Begin forming 1-inch balls and rest on a lined baking sheet. Let cake pops rest in the freezer while you begin melting the chocolate.

4. Over a double broiler, melt the chocolate. Once it liquifies, add to a tall glass.

5. With a toothpick or skewer inserted into the semi-frozen cake pops, dunk inside the chocolate, making sure to twirl off any excess. Add to the baking sheet and top with a walnut piece.

6. Let the chocolate-covered cake pops temper for about 10 minutes at room temperature or 5 minutes in the fridge.

7. Enjoy!