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.
Donna says
Yay, I finally made it! It's so good and so happy with the result. By the way, can I switch it to the classic one adding the candied fruits with this recipe?
Thank you.
Bea & Marco says
Hi Donna! So happy to know you liked it 🙂 Yes, you can use the candied fruits instead of the chocolate chips. Have a wonderful holiday season!
Jade says
This was a great recipe and worked amazing on my first try! And the flavour is spot on!
Can you recommend the best way to store/package them to hand out? As well how far in advance can they be made.
Thank you!!
Bea & Marco says
Yay! We're happy to hear that, Jade! Being a brioche type of bread, they're best consumed on the day they're baked as they tend to get dry days after. Store them in an air-tight containers for up to 5 days, room temperature. Reheat them in the microwave for a few seconds to bring them back to life. Hope it helps, and thanks for your comment!
NATALIA MARCON DE SOUZA says
You removed the part of activating the yeast.
Bea & Marco says
Yes, because I’m using instant dry yeast, as I’ve mentioned in the post above, together with the listed ingredients. It doesn’t need to be activated before using, unlike active dry yeast and fresh yeast. Hope it helps!
Sarah says
This is a brilliant recipe. Today I made these mini choc panettones. It is the first time I ever made panettone. I found it easy and the results are amazing. (I wish I knew how to add a photo of mine!)
JRT says
Hi. I want to make one large bread vs 6 small ones. Should I double or triple the recipe? Thanks. Great recipe.
Bea & Marco says
Hi! For the bigger size, I highly recommend you make our full-sized, success-guaranteed panettone recipe. This mini recipe is suitable for small-sized panettone because we're not developing enough gluten to hold the structure of a big-sized one. Hope it helps!
Cindi J says
This was absolutely amazing! I made it as written.
Nichole says
Wonderful recipe! Easy to follow and delicious! I wanted to surprise my Mom on Christmas morning. I made two batches 6 with chocolate and orange and 6 with rum soaked currants. My Mom says this has to happen every Christmas now! Lol
Bea says
Haha! I'm super happy that she liked them. Thanks for leaving your comment, Nichole! Do check out more easy bread recipes around here.
Giovanna says
Lovely and super easy recipe - I do have one question!
Could I add an extra egg yolk and do 2/3 cup of milk? My dough was very dry and stiff at the beginning, with the butter it got a little better and the outcome was still good. But reading the other comments my dough never got sticky!
Thanks 🙂
Bea says
Hi Giovanna! The first knead will result in quite a stiff dough but not until very dry. You should be able to form a ball easily out of it. If not, then perhaps you've added too much flour. If you're using cup measurement, use spoon and level method but I really recommend using a kitchen scale. Or have you changed/substituted any of the ingredients? By the end of this recipe, the dough should come out very sticky.
Nika says
They are now out of the oven and they are delicious! I made them like muffins because that's what I had at home - 16 servings at the end (from recipes 6) and 15min in the oven.
Bea says
That's awesome, Nika! Thanks for sharing your way on it!
Roshi says
Hi I tried out the recipe but my dough seems very sticky and liquidy very much like a brioche dough. What do you think I have done wrong.
Bea says
Hi! It's supposed to be like that. Panettone is a type of brioche. So don't worry.
Aisha says
I’ve made this umpteen times!!! My children loves it lots of cranberries walnut n choc chips!! We love it n thank you big time!!!
Bea says
Thank you Aisha! So happy to know you and your family enjoyed it 🙂
Carla says
Hi! How long in time would you recommended each proving stage to be? Thanks!
Bea says
Hi! It depends on your kitchen temperature, maybe around 1-2 hours. Instead of basing it on time, base it on the physical look of the dough. Hope it helps.
Lorraine says
Could you use a muffin tin to make them in stead of the cases
Bea says
Yes but you'd have to use of make the casings taller as the dough will rise very tall. Hope it helps.
Rosa says
Would I be able to make this recipe into one big panettone?
If so what would I have to change? thanks 🙂
Bea says
I suggest you check my classic panettone recipe here https://www.elmundoeats.com/panettone/
michele says
You did not mention what to do with the second egg? I assume one egg was for the wash and the second was to go into the dough after adding the milk? I did not get the egg in until much later. I hope it wasn't too late or that I ruined this.
Bea says
Please refer to the recipe ingredients above, the second egg is labelled for egg wash, with a splash of milk. Hope it helps.
DC says
Do you happen to have the dimensions of the molds you used? I don't think the ones from the link you shared would arrive in time so trying to find an alternative. Unfortunately the description isn't clear about what the measurements are for the minis. Thanks!
Bea says
The measurements are 2.5x1.75 inch or 6.35x4.4 cm. I've updated the info in the recipe card. Hope it helps and have fun making them!