Merry, merry Christmas to all my darling readers! I am so happy to be with y'all for yet another holiday season. Today, I am sharing a treat made with the Italian Christmas cake Pandoro! It's similar to the popular Panettone, which is a little more common in the States, and is a rich, buttery cross between cake and bread. Panettone is basically the Italian version of fruitcake, and it's full of raisins, golden raisins, and candied orange peel. Pandoro has always been my favorite, ever since I was little, because it has all of the sweet, delicious goodness without the raisins {and let's be honest, what kind of child really likes raisins, anyway?} The word literally translates to "golden bread," which is referring to the color of the cake that's achieved thanks to plenty of eggs, butter, and sugar! It's traditionally eaten by itself with a sprinkle of powdered sugar, which is delicious, but my motto in life is, "A lil chocolate never hurt nobody," so... well, yeah. I turned it into chocolate truffles!
For these truffles, I gave a Pandoro the cake-ball treatment and crumbled it into tiny bits, then mixed it with heavy cream and rolled the truffles in cocoa powder. They were then topped with melted chocolate and chopped pistachios for maximum deliciousness and texture! I used roasted & salted pistachios, which offered an amazing contrast to the bittersweet cocoa and sugary, rich Pandoro mixture. These are seriously amazing! They are so simple, but they look gorgeous and taste like gourmet little bites of heaven. Yum! If you're wanting to try something a little different this holiday season, I definitely recommend these. Pandoro is traditionally eaten from Christmas through New Year's, so you definitely aren't too late to make these. I hope you'll try these Italian treats this holiday season! Merry Christmas and happy baking!
pandoro {Italian Christmas cake} truffles
Ingredients
- ½ of a Pandoro cake {about 2 cups when crumbled}
- ¼ cup heavy cream {more or less as needed}
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
- ½ cup pistachios chopped
Instructions
- In a large bowl, break the Pandoro into small pieces and crumble it up with your hands.
- Using a spoon, mix in the heavy cream a little at a time, until the mixtures becomes soft and stays together like a dough.
- Using a tablespoon or small cookie scoop, make walnut-sized balls of dough, and roll them into the cocoa powder.
- Put the chocolate chips in a small bowl, and melt in the microwave in 20 second intervals until smooth and creamy.
- Spoon a little bit of the chocolate on each truffle, and top with the chopped pistachios.
- Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes, and keep in fridge until ready to serve.
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