Panettone, per favore

When it comes to entering give-aways I'm probably one of the most unlucky people around. If I were to buy 100 tickets and there were only 101 purchased for the give-away, the prize would certainly go to the person who bought the other ticket.
That's why I was so surprised that I was selected to receive a free sample of Bauducco Panettone as a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher through the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program with Bauducco Panettone. I came home from a week long business trip to find a big box waiting for me on the kitchen counter. I eagerly tore into the box to find two 26 oz samples, one Bauducco Panettone with Sunmaid raisins and one with Hershey's chocolate chips. I've always wanted to try panettone, but have never been able to find it in my local grocery stores in the rural area that I live in. My husband looked at the boxes skeptically and said "Isn't that kind of like fruitcake?" I tried to explain that it wasn't as dense as fruitcake and had a different taste, but he had already wandered away to watch a football game on TV.
I promptly put the raisin panettone in the freezer for a later date and cut a slice of the Hershey's chocolate chip panettone and spread it was a smear of Nutella. The combination of the hazelnut spread and the chocolate chips was perfect and I decided it would be just as good for breakast the next morning, only toasted.
The Bauducco folks were nice enough to include recipes for French toast and bread pudding so since I'm a big fan of French toast, I thought I'd give that one a try.
Panettone French Toast
2 3/4 inch-thick slices of Bauducco Panettone (I used the Hershey's chocolate chip variety)
2 eggs
1 heaping tablespoon of sour cream
2 T milk
butter or margarine
1. Beat eggs, sour cream and milk in a shallow flat-bottomed dish (a glass pie plate works great). Place panettone slice in the dish for a minute then turn over to soak both sides completely.
2. Warm skillet over medium heat and add butter or margarine to grease the skillet.
3. Gently remove the soaked panettone from the dish and place in the heated skillet. Cook for about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes per side for a soft center, 3 minutes per side for a firm center.
4. Remove from pan and drizzle with maple syrup or powdered sugar.

I have to admit I was skeptical about adding sour cream to the bread dipping mixture but it turned out to give the mixture a smoother and heavier consistency than I get when I just use the traditional egg and milk,
It also coated the panettone slices a lot more thoroughly than I imagine the traditional mixture would.
The French toast was perfect with a drizzle of maple syrup cream. The combination of the orange and the chocolate chips was fantastic and the consistency of the panettone was just right, not too mushy or too hard.
Although French toast is usually for breakfast, I could imagine serving this as a dessert using smaller slices and topping them with vanilla ice cream and maple syrup. Yum!
Grazie mille Bauducco!

Passing the Spatula (and a recipe for Chocolate Wave Zucchini Bread)

There was no marching band and parade to mark the occasion. No article in the local newspaper or a 30 second spot on the evening news. But if it was up to me there would have been because this past Thursday marked a very momentous event for me- my high school freshman daughter Abby's first cooking experience in her "Food and Nutrition" class.  Like a family of doctors who celebrate the day their youngest heads off to medical school to follow in their footsteps, I was very excited about Abby taking "Food and Nutrition." Of course, way back in the day, we didn't call it Food and Nutrition class. It was Home Ec, plain and simple. And I dreaded it with all the fear I associate with going to the dentist. That's right. This foodie almost flunked Home Ec. I despised my teacher, burned nearly every recipe we made and thought that cooking was for people who had nothing better to do. How funny that some 30-odd years later I get to relive it all over again through Abby. Thankfully, her experiences with me in the kitchen, limited as they have been, have prepared her much better than I ever was for culinary boot camp.
She came home Friday proudly carrying her half a loaf of Chocolate Wave Zucchini Bread that they had prepared on Thursday and regaled me with tales from the kitchen. Since she is the only freshman on her cooking team she got to experience what every chef does starting out - kitchen cleanup and handing other people utensils and ingredients. But she got to wear a black chef's coat (I recall with horror the flower-print apron I was forced to wear in Home Ec) and thought that was pretty neat.
I'm looking forward to her further adventures in the kitchen as the year progresses.
I'm going to relay the Zucchini bread recipe exactly as Abby received it, just because it's so darned cute in the way it sets out all the steps.
Ingredients
Bowl #1 (Wet Ingredients)
1/3 cup of shortening
1 1/3 cups of white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups grated zucchini
1/3 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract
Bowl #2 (Dry Ingredients)
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put parchment paper in one 9x5 loaf pan.
1. In a large bowel, cream shortening and sugar together until smooth. THEN mix in eggs, add zucchini, water and vanilla.
2. In another bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice together.
3. Mix the 2 bowls of ingredients together into one bowl. 
4. Divide batter in half (put 1/2 of batter in one bowl and other 1/2 in another bowl.) Add cocoa powder and chocolate chips to one of the halves. Pour plain batter into bottom of the loaf pan. Pour chocolate batter on top of plain batter. Using a table knife, swirl chocolate into white batter.
5.  Bake until a wooden toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pan. Store in refrigerator.