The best mini panettone with chocolate chips recipe. Perfectly domed, buttery, and fluffy mini panettone for beginners. A simpler and faster way to enjoy this delicious sweet bread during Christmas and the holidays!
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Why This Recipe Works
Marco is a quarter Italian, and he introduced me to Panettone. We love it, especially during Christmas time and the holidays. We make them every year together with his family's easy fruitcake recipe. Our readers who've made them simply loved them! Here's why we think this is the best mini panettone with chocolate chips ever!
It's easier than traditional panettone - This recipe is perfect for beginners, before jumping to our traditional panettone bread recipe. It takes less time and effort, and since it's a mini version, you don't need to flip it. Easy!
Soft and fluffy panettone - Being a mini panettone doesn't take away the essence of a panettone in it. You'll have a tall, perfectly domed, buttery, and fluffy panettone to enjoy!
Success-guaranteed recipe - We don't want you to waste ingredients and time, that's why we've tested all of our recipes, including this mini panettone with chocolate chips recipe. In this article we've written out tips and tricks, you simply can't go wrong with it!
Another typical holiday recipe here in Spain is 3 Kings bread. It's soft and fluffy sweet bread in a big donut shape, topped with candied fruits and custard filling. Unique and delicious!
Ingredients For This Recipe
Bread flour - Or high-protein flour with 12g-13g protein/100g. It's important to develop strong gluten networks, resulting in soft, fluffy, good-structured panettone with chocolate. We also use it in our Nutella babka buns and our braided Nutella star bread, that's why they're super soft!
Citrus - Marco doesn't like orange blossom water which was traditionally added to panettone dough. To compensate, we go heavy with citrus zest and vanilla extract for this mini panettone with chocolate chips. The orange and lemon combo is our favorite. Even the raw dough smells like Christmas!
Honey - Our secret for soft bread is using honey as a natural bread softener! At the same time, it also adds a touch of sweetness to the dough.
Yeast - We use instant dry yeast. It's faster and easier since we can add it together with the rest of the ingredients, without having to activate it first. Use 3 teaspoon (9g) of active dry yeast or 21g of fresh yeast. For both active dry yeast and fresh yeast, activate them with warm milk before using.
Chocolate chips - We use semisweet with 55% cocoa for this mini panettone with chocolate chips. Feel free to use dark or white chocolate if you wish. Other variations can be chopped candied fruits, raisins, or almonds.
⭐ See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Step-By-Step Instructions
1. First proof - Add all the ingredients for the dough except for butter, in a standing mixer bowl. Mix well and then knead for 10 minutes. Add in cubed butter bit by bit until everything is incorporated, this process will take from 5-10 minutes. Then knead for another 10 minutes. You'll get a soft and very sticky dough. Cover the bowl tightly with cling film and leave until the dough rises to double its size. This could take around 1-2 hours.
2. Second proof - Grease the countertop and your hands with some oil. Place the dough on the countertop and stretch it into a rectangle, more or less. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Fold the dough and gently knead it to distribute the chocolate chips evenly. Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces.
3. Assemble and bake - Form each piece of dough into a ball. Place them into mini panettone molds. Cover the top loosely with cling film. Leave until the top of the dough rises to almost 1 inch (2.5cm) from the brim of the mold. Don't overproof it. Gently brush the top with some egg wash. Bake in a preheated oven at 350ºF (175ºC), on a lower ⅔ rack for 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool completely. Enjoy your mini panettone with chocolate chips!
Recipe Expert Tips
- Correct measurement - We love using a kitchen scale as it's more precise, especially for weighing flour in baking. We don't want excess flour in this mini panettone recipe, which usually happens with cup measurements. However, all our recipes are in both cup and metric measurements, for your convenience. Use the spoon and level method, if you're using cup measurement.
- Standing mixer - The dough will be sticky, so we highly recommend using a standing mixer to make the kneading process of this mini panettone easier.
- No extra flour - Don't add extra flour to the countertop and your hands when handling the sticky dough. Instead, grease them with some oil. The dough is supposed to be soft and sticky to achieve a soft and fluffy mini panettone with chocolate chips.
- Don't overproof the dough - For the final proof, the dough in the molds should not rise over the brim of the mold. The top dome of the dough should rise just until around 1 inch (2.5cm) before the brim of the mold. If you overproof the dough at this stage, your mini panettone with chocolate chips will not rise beautifully in the oven.
- Place the molds containing the dough on a baking tray - This will make it easier to move them around to bake them later, without risking deflating the dough.
- Bake on lower ⅔ rack - This is to leave space for the panettone to rise in the oven, without burning the top, if you were to bake it on the middle rack.
How To Serve, Store, And Freeze
Serve - This mini panettone is best consumed on the day of baking like any other fresh homemade bread. Enjoy it with some sweet wine or hot drinks like tea, coffee, or chocolate!
Store - In an air-tight container, at room temperature. It lasts up to 5 days. The texture of this mini panettone with chocolate chips will start getting dry as the days pass, that's natural since we don't add any preservatives to this mini panettone recipe. No worries! Reheat it in the microwave for a few seconds and it'll be as if it just came out from the oven!
Freeze - In an air-tight container for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature. Remember to reheat this mini panettone to bring it back to its glory!
Recipe FAQs
Nope. Traditional panettone has candied fruits, raisins, and/or nuts. We're using chocolate chips for this mini panettone so keep everything easier and faster.
It's because it's a lengthy process to make a panettone and it requires more effort than the typical bread. Its unique tall and domed shape also needs some expertise and knowledge to achieve.
A traditional panettone bread takes hours to make. It's a cross between bread and cake, and its tall and domed shape is so unique. It's usually consumed during Christmas.
1) If the texture is dry on the day that you baked it, then you've overbaked it. Use a portable oven thermometer to get an accurate temperature. When baking, place it on a lower ⅔ rack so the growing top doesn't get burnt. 2) If the texture feels dry the days after, then it's natural since we don't add any preservatives to it. Simply reheat it for a few seconds in the microwave and it'll be just as if it just came out from the oven!
More Holidays Recipes
⭐ If you tried this Mini Panettone With Chocolate Chips or any other recipe on our website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it went in the comments below!
Watch How To Make It
📖 Recipe
Mini Panettone With Chocolate Chips
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 cup (260 g) bread flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- zest of 1 orange
- zest of ½ lemon
- 1 large egg , room temperature
- 1 large yolk , room temperature
- 2 tablespoon (40 g) honey
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) warm milk
- 2 ¼ teaspoon (7 g) instant dry yeast
- ⅓ cup (75 g) butter , room temperature and cubed
Others
- 4 oz (110 g) chocolate chip
- 1 egg with a splash of milk , for egg wash
Instructions
First proof
- Add all the ingredients for the dough except for butter, in a standing mixer bowl. Mix well and then knead for 10 minutes. Add in cubed butter bit by bit until everything is incorporated, this process will take from 5-10 minutes. Then knead for another 10 minutes. You'll get a soft and very sticky dough.
- Cover the bowl tightly with cling film and leave until the dough rises to double its size. This could take around 1-2 hours.
Second proof
- Grease the countertop and your hands with some oil. Don't use flour as we don't want to add extra flour to the dough. Place the dough on the countertop and stretch it into a rectangle, more or less. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top.
- Fold the dough and gently knead it to distribute the chocolate chips evenly. Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces.
Assemble and bake
- Form each piece of dough into a ball. Place them into mini panettone molds (2.5x1.75 inch or 6.35x4.4 cm), on a baking tray. This will make it easier to move them around without deflating the dough. Cover the top loosely with cling film. Leave until the top of the dough rises to almost 1 inch (2.5cm) from the brim of the mold. Don't overproof it.
- Gently brush the top with some egg wash. Bake in a preheated oven at 350ºF (175ºC), on a lower ⅔ rack for 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool completely. Enjoy your mini panettone with chocolate chips!
Notes
- We highly recommend using a kitchen scale for this recipe as it's more precise.
- Use a portable oven thermometer to get a precise oven temperature.
- The dough will be soft and sticky, do not be tempted to add more flour.
- Do not let the dough rise too much in the second proof stage. The over-risen dough will result in the dough overflowing the mold when you bake it.
- Cover the top loosely with aluminum foil if the panettones brown too fast.
- Never slice a panettone (or any bread!) when it's still hot/warm.
Nutrition Facts
The nutrition facts provided are an estimate per serving. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Originally published on Nov 15, 2018. Updated with improved text and pictures on Dec 2, 2023.
Gabrielle says
Hi there! The yeast used...is it active dry or instant? 🙂
Bea says
It's instant 🙂
Gabrielle says
Thank you! Making these for someone who's Italian...wish me luck!
Rose Stagliano says
I love the candid fruit... can i add the candid fruit instead of the chocolate and mix with the mixer? Also can i double the recipe so i can get 12?
Thank you
Bea says
Yes, you can! 😊
Rose Stagliano says
Look very easy. I was wondering to split the dough and make some with the candid fruit. Also can’t get the little paper mold was thinking of making them myself
Bea says
It is very easy. And yes, why not? 🙂
Rose says
Can i use muffin baking cups .. ( they are much taller than the regular cups. Thank you
Bea says
Yes, you can 🙂
Agnieszka says
Hi Bea! Made this recipe yesterday and it was a hit! I always wanted to make panettone, but was discouraged by the amount of hassle it required. Gonna make this recipe a regular. Big thanks!
Bea says
Yeah I know, these smaller sized panettone is way less hassle to tackle. Glad that you enjoyed them, thank you!
Diane says
I want to make these for Christmas gifts. How long will they stay fresh without freezing? And can they be frozen? Thank you.
Bea says
They are the freshest during the first 24 hours (as any other brioche type breads) and last for 2-3 days. Yes, they can be frozen. Reheat them either in the oven or microwave to bring them back to life. Hope it helps.
Alice says
Hi Bea! Recipe sounds and looks great. Just wondering if it’s still possible to do these by hand without a mixer?
Thanks 🙂
Bea says
Hi Alice! Yes, it's doable by hand but it'll take more time and effort as the dough is on the sticky side. Hope it helps 🙂
Nalini Das says
Thanks for the lovely recipe. Made the regular panettone for Christmas. Will
try this recipe. It will be so much more easier to gift .
Thanks a ton. Sure it will turn out like a charm.
Bea says
Yes, these are perfect for gifts and they're super cute 😀 ! Thanks Nalini!
Isabella says
Hey, I am wanting to bake these for Christmas, however how long will they keep for? I do have a vacuum sealer 🤔
Danielle says
Hi,
What are the dimensions of the mini panettone? I want to give them as gifts.
Thanks.
Josie McDonald says
Thanks for the recipe it is delightful, I made 12 mini ones from your recipe and baked for 22 mins and they were perfect. 😀
Will make again.
Bea says
That’s awesome Josie! Thanks for trying the recipe and your support 😍
NMV says
A very big thank you from Hungary 🙂 I love the store bought pannettone, but i haaaate those glaze fruits. This is perfect, yummy and easy, my 3 little ones are love it, definetly puts on my Xmas sweets list. Thx 💞
Bea says
I’m so happy to know your little ones like it, I always make them around this time of year as well👍 Thanks for trying the recipe and the support!
Elaine says
Hi from Malaysia! I’ve been looking for a good recipe for light but buttery mini panettone for years and just tried this recipe; it’s excellent! Thank you so much, I’m wondering if this dough can be used as basic sweet dough for cinnamon rolls and large babka?
Bea says
Hi Elaine! I'm happy to know that you loved it! If you're looking for cinnamon rolls and babka recipes, I've got you covered. Just search for them in my website. Thank you so much!
Rhea says
Hello. I made your normal P yesterday and they tasted great. It came out very nice from the oven but since i DIYd the liner I could not hang it coz the bread will tear. I just inverted it on a rack, which I think made it dense - correct me if I'm wrong. I'm now checking for suppliers of the liner here in the Philippines. A question please... for this mini Ps, can I sub raisins for the choco chips? Do I still need to soak them in rum prior? Thanks for sharing your recipes.
Bea says
Hi Rhea! For the dense, yes, that's why I would suggest you to find the liners. And for the mini, yes soak the raisins if you want. Hope this helps and do rate my recipes that you tried with the stars above the comments, that helps me a lot, thanks!
trish lim says
I made it exactly like your recipe and we loved it! so easy. so delicious. next i will use glaze fruits. thanks for sharing your recipe!
Mita Majumdar says
HI Bea, so if I wanted to make 12 of these, I should just double the recipe, right? Just bought the molds from Amazon. Want to make these for the family on Christmas Eve. Want to give it a trial run first before making for everyone. There are 25 molds in the pack, so that would work out really well. BTW, do you have any shortbread cookie recipe?
Bea says
Hi Mita. Yes double the recipe but adjust the milk quantity accordingly as liquid amount when doubling/halving a bread recipe isn't always that accurate. These are great for Christmas for sure. And nope I haven't shared any shortbread cookies yet 😀
Umen says
Made these instead ur normal size panettone. Yummy! I love ur recipes! U make it easier for me to learn make breads. I watch ur you tube. Thanks for sharing ur skills!!
Bea says
Thank you for your kind words Umen 🙂 . Yes, these are easier to make than my other panettone recipe. I'm happy to know that you liked them 🙂
josephine says
Thank you for sharing, love your recipe, simple and clear.:)
Bea says
Thank you Josephine! I'm happy to know that you liked it 🙂