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    Home » Recipes

    Pistachio Chocottone

    Published: Dec 24, 2022 by Sonila · This post may contain affiliate links · Leave a Comment

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Pistachio Chocottone sweet breads are the ideal Christmas gift that you can make yourself. It might take few trials, but once you get the hang of it, you won’t be able to stop baking!! Happy Holidays:))

    Baked mini panettones with chocolate and pistachios. One is panettone is front and center and cut in half so you can see the inside.
    Pistachio Chocottone

    I have been working on this recipe for few years already (well December each year) and there was always something that I needed to tweak so I never published this recipe until now. This adds to my Panettone collection of recipes:

    • Chocolate Chips Panettone
    • Raisins and Candied Fruits Panettone
    • Bread pudding Panettone

    Pistachios love Chocolate

    If you have been to any Mediterranean country, you’ll see so many combinations of pistachios with chocolate. We love this flavor combination and both home cooks and chefs include it in their favorite recipes as often as possible.

    Only another combination of nuts and chocolate might be more famous, hazelnuts and chocolate:).

    Three chocottones on a serving wood board, shown next to each other and with Christmas decor around them.
    Baked Chocottones

    Ingredients for this Medium size Chocottone

    Ingredients for starter dough are very simple and few of them. You’ll need lukewarm milk, a tablespoon of sugar, half a cup of all purpose flour and a packet of active yeast (about 7 grams).

    I have used instant yeast too successfully for this recipe. Even though instant didn’t need to be activated, I still made starter dough with it just to keep the process similar.

    Ingredients for panettone starter: milk, flour, sugar and active dry yeast packet.
    Ingredients for Panettone Starter

    Once you prepare the starter dough, cover it and set it aside so it can start bubbling and growing.

    Then start preparing the regular dough. Here’s a high level view of what you’ll need.

    • 4 eggs and 4 eggs yolks
    • 3.5 cups all purpose flour
    • 1 stick of butter (113 grams which is about 8 tbsps)
    • 1 navel orange
    • 1 cup sugar
    • 1 cup pistachios (shelled)
    • ⅔ cup good quality cocoa
    • 1-2 ozs orange liqueur
    • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
    Ingredients for chocotone with pistachios: eggs and egg yolks, flour, butter, vanilla extract, liqueur, cocoa, pistachios, starter dough, orange and sugar.
    Ingredients for Chocottone with Pistachios

    Adding the liqueur is optional, but in my opinion it adds such depth of flavor to this recipe. Alcohol evaporates so you won’t feel it on the baked sweet bread.

    If you’d like the chocottone to be a bit sweeter, increase the sugar quantity slightly. I seem to want my desserts not overly sweet lately so 1 cup seems to be perfect for me.

    How to make Chocottone at home?

    Professional Panettone makers take days to make a great panettone. The process is really mesmerizing. However, if you’re a homecook you don’t have few days for one sweet bread so we have to compromise a little. My secret to making homemade chocottone or panettone is active yeast and instant yeast.

    Yes, I know that this amazing sweet Christmas bread will taste better with sourdough and days of leavening but my kids are not that patient:)). So that’s why I use store bought yeast to make panettone at home.

    As most homemade panettone recipes, this recipe requires some important steps:

    • starter dough
    • panettone dough
    • first dough rise
    • add additional fruits, nuts or chocolate chips
    • pour into mold
    • second dough rise
    • bake
    • hang panettone upside down so it doesn’t collapse (not applicable to mini and medium size panettones)

    Additional Tips and Notes

    I prefer using eggs and butter at room temperature.

    My biggest cooking tip when making panettone, not just this specific one but any airy bread like panettone or chocottone is to give it time to rise. You need to let the dough rise twice and you have to be patient. In some kitchens the second dough rise might take 2 hours but in others, it can be 3-4 hours even longer. This wide range is dependant on temperature and humidity of the kitchen. So someone living in Florida might have totally different results in December than someone in Vermont.

    My tip to balance things out is to keep the kitchen as warm as possible (during winter – I don’t mean hot) when living in a cold climate.

    Also when filling the panettone molds with dough, don’t fill them more than half. It looks like you’re not adding enough initially, but the dough will double in size so leave room for that otherwise it will spill when baking.

    Three medium panettone molds full of chocottone dough, already risen and topped with pistachios. The molds are over a baking tray.
    Chocottones ready to bake

    Size of Panettone

    In my previous panettone recipes, I have used a full size mold to make those Christmas breads. Below two links are from my Amazon affiliate account.

    • Full size panettone mold (this is the one I have from Amazon but if you check there are more options)

    This recipe is made with medium size panettone molds, initially I thought they were minis but no they look full size tall, however smaller so one of these panettones can be split in half when serving.

    • Medium size panettone mold – again this is what I use but there are so many options so pick your favorite.

    So if you’re looking at a large size or full size panettone, that’s about 14-15 ozs. The medium size panettone can be around the 8 ozs range and the minis can go down to 3-4 ozs.

    Pistachio chocotone sliced in half and picture shows the inside of one of the slices. There's a partial uncut panettone on the side and Christmas decor around them.

    Pistachio Chocottone

    Sonila
    These mini pistachio chocottone sweet breads are the ideal gift for Christmas!! They're decadent, soft, airy and so flavorful!
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 15 mins
    Cook Time 35 mins
    Dough rising 4 hrs
    Total Time 4 hrs 50 mins
    Course Breakfast, Dessert
    Cuisine Mediterranean
    Servings 6 servings
    Calories 698 kcal

    Equipment

    • 3 medium size panettone molds
    • 1 glass mixing bowl
    • 1 Hand Held Mixer
    • 1 spatula

    Ingredients
      

    Starter Dough

    • 1 cup milk lukewarm
    • 1 tbsp sugar
    • ½ cup all purpose flour
    • 1 packet active yeast 7 grams

    Chocottone dough

    • 4 eggs
    • 4 egg yolks
    • 1 cup sugar
    • 1 stick butter 113 grams or 8 tbsps
    • 1 oz orange liqueur can go up to 2 ozs for a more pronounced taste
    • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
    • zest of one orange
    • ⅔ cup cocoa
    • 3.5 cups all purpose flour
    • 1 cup pistachios

    Instructions
     

    Starter Dough

    • Add 1 tbsp sugar to 1 cup of lukewarm milk. Then add 1 packet of active yeast (about 7 grams). Mix to dissolve. Finally add half a cup of all purpose flour, mix well and cover to let the starter dough bubble. Make sure it has room to grow.

    Chocottone Dough

    • Get a glass mixing bowl, add 4 eggs, 4 egg yolks and start mixing with the hand held mixer. Add 1 cup of sugar and continue mixing until the cream starts to whiten a little bit. Add butter while still mixing. Butter is supposed to be soft and in room temperature. Then add the starter dough in. See video in how it's supposed to look.
    • Then add both the liqueur and the vanilla extract and continue mixing. Add zest of 1 orange. Then add cocoa and mix slowly so you don't make it fly everywhere. Once cocoa is incorporated, then start adding the flour in slowly. Once it gets difficult to mix with the hand held mixer, switch to a spatula.
    • Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave the bowl in a warm spot in your kitchen for about 1-1.5 hours.
    • While the dough is rising, get the pistachios and add them to a ziplock bag. Use a kitchen hammer to chop them up inside the bag. Alternatively, you can use a mortar and pestle to break the pistachios up.
    • Once dough is done rising, add the pistachios in, mix with a spatula. Then use slowly add the dough to panettone molds. Add enough until half of the mold.
    • Place the molds in a baking tray and leave them in a warm place for 2-3 hours until dough has risen over the edge of the mold and looks like a dome.
    • Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30-35 minutes (make sure oven is pre-heated first).
    • Garnish the top with more pistachios if desired. Let the chocottones cool down before slicing them open. Enjoy and happy holidays.

    Notes

    • Technically this recipe yields 3 medium size panettones with chocolate and pistachios, which is about 6 full servings. However, you can stretch it to 8 when you have kids.
    • In more traditional fashion, you can add a layer of pistachio cream over the panettone and even infuse the cream into air pockets inside the bread. 

    Nutrition Label

    Nutrition Facts
    Pistachio Chocottone
    Amount Per Serving
    Calories 698 Calories from Fat 162
    % Daily Value*
    Fat 18g28%
    Saturated Fat 5g31%
    Trans Fat 0.05g
    Monounsaturated Fat 8g
    Cholesterol 242mg81%
    Sodium 71mg3%
    Potassium 560mg16%
    Carbohydrates 114g38%
    Fiber 8g33%
    Sugar 41g46%
    Protein 22g44%
    Vitamin A 457IU9%
    Vitamin C 1mg1%
    Calcium 126mg13%
    Iron 7mg39%
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 698kcalCarbohydrates: 114gProtein: 22gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 5gMonounsaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0.05gCholesterol: 242mgSodium: 71mgPotassium: 560mgFiber: 8gSugar: 41gVitamin A: 457IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 126mgIron: 7mg
    Keyword Pistachio Chocottone
    Tried this recipe?Mention @mediterranean_latin_love or tag #mediterraneanlatinloveaffair!
    What does Chocotone or Chocottone mean?

    Chocotone is the chocolate version of the traditional Italian Christmas sweet bread. The traditional version is made with dried fruits and candied fruits.

    If you would like to save this recipe for later, please save to your boards in Pinterest. Let me know in comments if you have any questions. Feel free to tag me in social media with your version of this recipe:)). Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog!!

    Instagram: mediterranean_latin_love or Twitter: MediterrLatin or Facebook: Mediterranean Latin Love Affair.

    Pistachio Chocottone

    Other Desserts

    I have more dessert recipes that are not Panettone:)). Here are some of them.

    • Albanian Sheqerpare
    • Old fashioned Revani
    • Farro Pudding (Hashure)
    • Orange Walnuts Bundt Cake

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    Filed Under: Breakfast, Desserts, Mediterranean Food, Recipes Tagged With: Christmas

    About Sonila

    Mom of 2, wife, engineer, food blogger & recipe creator! Sonila was born in Albania, her heritage inspires her Mediterranean recipes while that of her husband the Latin ones. Sonila has 2 degrees in Engineering from University of Miami.

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    Sonila Zarate
    Sonila Zarate

    Mom of 2, wife, engineer, food blogger & recipe creator! Sonila was born in Albania, her heritage inspires her Mediterranean recipes while that of her husband the Latin ones. Sonila has 2 degrees in Engineering from University of Miami.

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