A toast to Christmas

Is panettone the new fruit cake? Panettone is one of my all time favourite seasonal store cupboard essentials. The aroma of  freshly toasted panettone UMM- HMMMMMMMMMMM!!

Here is a new take for a fast and easy Christmas dessert. My inspiration is  the tradition of the Italian Christmas dinner, at the end of which panettone is served with dried fruit,tangerines and oranges. The same elements are here in this recipe, but I have used  traditional Portuguese ingredients. Ameixas d´ Elvas ( Elvas plums ) tangerines,dried strawberries and dried cranberries.I have taken the orange element and transposed it into a supporting dollop of Mascarpone cream.

Toasted panettone with Elvas plums and orange mascarpone cream

1 Panettone cut into round slices, 1 per guest

2 Tangerines, segmented

Dried crystallised strawberries

1 90g packet Dried cranberries

1 Crystallized Elvas plum per serving

FOR THE CREAM

150g Mascarpone

1tablespoon icing sugar

Juice and zest of 1/2 orange

1 tablespoon Casa Rosada Licore Laranja Sevilha
or any orange flavoured liqueur

In a bowl mix all the ingredients for the orange mascarpone cream

Toast your panettone slices under the grill, top with the fruit leaving 

a small space to finish with a dollop of the cream