This holiday season, add the Italian sweet bread panettone and the Italian lemon liqueur, limoncello, to your table. Not only do they complement one another, there's an assortment of recipes that combine both products or use one or the other for a new twist on flavorful dining.

Panettone is a sweet yeast bread made with raisins, citron, pine nuts and anise. It's baked in a tall, cylindrical straight-sided mold called a panettone pan. It originated in Milan, Italy according to the Food Lover's Companion. Traditionally it is served at Christmas time, but also at celebrations. It can be served as a bread, coffee cake, or dessert.

Locally, you can buy gourmet versions in lovely holiday wrappings from Sofo Foods or in a less expensive boxed version from stores such as the Anderson's.

You can also make your own panettone using a bread machine and a recipe from Fleischman Yeast. "The Panettone recipe couldn't have been easier," says recipe tester KayLynne Schaller. "It was pretty and yellow and using the bread machine, it was a tall loaf." Slices of the panettone were very good toasted for breakfast the next day.

(When making this recipe, if you can't find ground anise seed, buy anise seed and use a mortar and pestal.)

For a richer version, the Blade tested Aunt Mary's Pannettone Cake from At Home with Michael Chiarello by Michael Chiarello (Chronicle, $40). This marvelous recipe was a richer version of the bread machine recipe. It was denser like a banana bread or similar to a fruit cake and more of a dessert.

Mr. Chiarello also notes that the panettone can be fashioned into a Nutella sandwich, grilled, and served with ice cream; it can also be diced and toasted for bread stuffing for pork roast or turkey and it can be used for French toast.

When I saw Liz Sofo at Sofo Foods recently she told me how she made French toast last year at Christmas with the panettone Sofo's sells and how good it was.

King Arthur Flour in Norwich, Vt. sells a 26-ounce panettone fruit and nut mix for $10.95 to make panettone. It comes with yeast and the consumer add eggs, warm water, and butter. The mix is designed to be baked in panettone and cake papers (set of 12) for $5.95 or mini-papers at $4.95. One mix fills the large paper or 12 mini papers.

The panettone mix is available until January. The panettone papers are available through the spring. (Some people use these papers for babkas, according to Sarah McGinley-Smith of King Arthur Flour.) The papers may also be used for panettone from scratch. To order, visit kingarthurflour.com or call 800-827-6836. King Arthur Flour's baking hotline is 802-649-3717.

To create a tart twist on the panettone tradition, try Limoncello and Dried Cherry Panettone Bread Pudding which incorporates the panettone as the primary ingredient. The recipe uses limoncello, another Italian ingredient from Southern Italy.

The lemon liqueur is made by soaking the peels of lemons in alcohol. Traditionally the liqueur is served at the end of the meal, but the liqueur can be used to mix cocktails, desserts, and even entree recipes.

For the Limoncello and Dried Cherry Panettone Bread Pudding, use a 3-quart deep baking dish in order to use as much of the large panettone as possible (I bought an inexpensive pre-made panettone for $10 at Anderson's). Also whole milk should be used in the egg-cream mixture so the bread pudding sets up. When baked, let the bread pudding cool for 20 minutes before cutting for nice smooth pieces.

Although I drizzled white chocolate on the baked bread pudding, I think the limoncello-flavored fresh whipped cream makes a lighter flavor. Add 1/2 tablespoon limoncello to the half pint of whipped cream.

Seriously Simple Holidays by Diane Rossen Worthington features Panettone Breakfast Pudding with Eggnog Custard. Instead of flavoring the egg mixture with limoncello, eggnog seasoned with pumpkin pie spice is used in the egg mixture in Ms. Worthington's recipe.

Cooks who are hesitant to buy a bottle of limoncello for just one recipe will be interested in the variety of recipes that use limoncello.

Cookbook author Lidia Matticchio Bastianich features Limoncello Tiramisu with in Lidia's Italy (Knopf, $35). While the conventional version calls for espresso-soaked ladyfingers or imported Italian savoiardi, other flavors can be incorporated into the dessert. In this recipe, fresh lemons and limoncello liqueur lace the cream and soaking syrup. Often tiramisu is served as a family-style dessert in a large dish but it can be presented in single servings in dessert glasses, wine goblets for a festive flair.

Among my favorite ways to use limoncello is grilled or baked Limoncello Chicken with White Raisins. In the summer, the recipe is great when grilled. On a very cool November evening, I opted to bake the dish. I wrapped the chicken breasts in a wonderfully lean prosciutto (pre-packaged) and put it in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Served with the Limoncello Plumped Golden Raisins, it was a moist and delicious entree.

Kathie Smith is The Blade's food editor. Contact her at food@theblade.com or 419-724-6155.

First Published December 4, 2007, 10:57 a.m.