Traditional Italian Panettone

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Carry on a long-standing Italian tradition at Christmas with this superb holiday bread. 

Ingredients: 
 3 cups sifted all-purpose flour 
 1 tablespoon baking powder 
 1 teaspoon ground cardamom 
 1/2 teaspoon salt 
 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger 
 2 large eggs 
 2 egg yolks 
 3/4 cup granulated sugar 
 1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 1 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled 
 1 cup milk 
 1 1/4 cups golden raisins 
 1/2 cup coarsely chopped dried fruit (such as peaches, papaya, pineapple, or bananas) 
 1/4 cup coarsely chopped blanched almonds (about 1 ounce) 
 1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange peel 
 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
For the Garnish 
 Confectioners’ sugar

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease two 16-ounce coffee cans or two 6 x 4-inch panettone molds. 

2. Mix together flour, baking powder, cardamom, salt, and ginger. Beat together eggs, egg yolks, and sugar at medium speed until thick and pale yellow. Beat melted butter into egg mixture. Alternately add flour mixture and milk to egg mixture. Stir in raisins, dried fruit, nuts, orange peel, and lemon peel.
 
3. Spoon batter into prepared cans, dividing evenly. Place cans, batter-side up, on a baking sheet. Bake panettone until top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 1 hour and 5 minutes. (If necessary, cover cans with aluminum foil toward end of baking time to prevent overbrowning). 

4. Slide loaves from cans. Transfer to a baking sheet. Bake panettone until crusty, 10 minutes more. Transfer loaves to a wire rack to cool. Dust with confectioners’ sugar. Makes 2 loaves

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