Festive baking time! Rich, yeasted sweet bread studded with dark chocolate, in a handy little size for parties and lunchboxes.

Makes 24 muffin-sized panettone
Active time about 2 hours
Resting time 5 – 6 hours
Baking time about 40 minutes

Because it is made in so many stages, I recommend reading through the whole recipe first, then dividing it up to suit your schedule – if you don’t have time to do the whole thing in one day, you can refrigerate the dough overnight after the first rise and pick it up the next day.

Note that all the ingredients (including milk, butter and eggs) should be at room temperature.

Sponge

1 x 7g sachet (2 1/4 tsp) instant yeast
60ml (1/4 cup) milk
1 large egg yolk
15g (1 Tbsp) sugar
50g (2 heaped Tbsp) all-purpose (plain) flour

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the yeast in the milk, add egg yolk, sugar and flour and mix until smooth.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

First dough

185g (1 1/2 cups, spooned and scraped) all-purpose (plain) flour
25g (2 scant Tbsp) sugar
1 large egg
28g (2 Tbsp) unsalted butter

Add the flour, sugar and egg to sponge and mix with a wooden spoon or paddle beater. Add butter and beat until fully incorporated.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes to an hour.

Second dough

2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
145g (2/3 cup) unsalted butter
185g (1 1/2 cups, spooned and scraped) all-purpose (plain) flour
1/2 tsp salt
100g (3 1/2 oz) roughly chopped dark chocolate

Add eggs, egg yolk, sugar and vanilla extract to first dough and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon or paddle beater.

Add butter gradually, mixing well.

Add flour and salt and knead together into a soft dough.

Knead in chopped chocolate, then continue to knead for about 5 minutes, until dough is soft and light. It will be quite soft and sticky.

First rise

Scrape dough into a buttered bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled – about 2 hours, depending on the ambient temperature.

Second rise

Put 24 cupcake liners into muffin pans.

Punch down dough and pull off golf-ball sized pieces, roll them into balls and pop into cupcake liners.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled – about 2 hours, depending on the ambient temperature.

Baking

1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water for egg wash

Preheat oven to 175°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.

Brush with egg wash and bake in centre and lower third of oven for 15 minutes, swapping trays after 10 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 150°C / 300°F / Gas Mark 2 and bake another 25 – 30 minutes, swapping trays after 15 minutes, until golden.

Cool completely on a wire rack before storing in an airtight container.