Panettone Muffins

ABC? The Avid Baker's Challenge. This year the group is baking twelve recipes from the King Arthur Flour website. I'm all over that. Do I like King Arthur Flour? Given my addiction for buying their ingredients....  

Let's talk about my pantry...  I just happened to have all of the ingredients, including the Fiori di Sicilia, a flavoring for Panettone. 

Making panettone, an Italian Christmas bread, can be quite a challenge. The recipe I've used involves a sourdough starter and a nine hour rise. These muffins borrow the flavor of panettone while taking only a couple of hours from start to finish with less than 30 minutes of hands-on time. 

The recipe has a couple of options. I used a combination of raisins and dried cranberries for the fruit, and soaked them in rum after heating the mixture in the microwave (you can either heat the fruit and liquid to use the mixture on the same day, or simply soak the fruit overnight without heating it). I also added the optional cake enhancer because I had it on hand. I baked the muffins without paper muffin tin liners and they fell out of the tin without sticking. 

Verdict? Really good. Really easy. A little taste of Italian celebration bread. Oh, and they are really nice warmed. 

You can find the recipe here on the King Arthur Flour website. You can check out the other Avid Bakers' takes on the recipe here. 

Enjoy!