Sweet Breads, the carbs not the organ meats

November 29, 2023 12:44 PM

I like to send babka or panettone as gifts for Christmas. These are a hit especially with my older, southern, less-exposed-to-a-variety-of-cuisines relatives. What other sweet breads could I consider?

Not interested in cookies or cakes. Interested in other sweet bread type things like babka or panettone, especially ones I could buy online (either through marketplace or independent producers) and have shipped? Alternatively, I live in New York City, so if there's something absolutely to die for locally that would be easy to mail, I'd be open to that also.

Nothing too 'out there' by an average 80 year old conservative Floridian man's expected standards.

Thanks for your help!

posted by greta simone to Food & Drink (21 answers total)

Pandoro is a nice alternative (or accompaniment, imho) to Pannetone.
posted by niicholas at 12:49 PM on November 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

I love stollen and honestly the ones that Aldi carries this time of year are quite good.
posted by phunniemee at 12:54 PM on November 29, 2023 [6 favorites]

Kringle!
posted by box at 1:03 PM on November 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

I like to make New Orleans King Cake which is actually a sweet yeast bread. The recipe I follow comes from an old Time-Life cookbook -- the online recipes I see look similar for the bread itself but seem to involve rolling it up like a big cinnamon bun with brown sugar and cinnamon filling, whereas the recipe I follow involves kneading candied fruit (I usually use dried pineapple) bits into the dough.
posted by Rhedyn at 1:03 PM on November 29, 2023

Pandolce (not "pan dulce", although that's also good) rounds out the trio of Italian sweet breads for Christmas.

I send panettone from a variety of online sources to relatives in other states, there are several Milan-based bakers available, they come in fancy-ish metal cans, my relatives really love them.
posted by gimonca at 1:12 PM on November 29, 2023

Response by poster: I should note that I am NOT a baker, nor do I want to bake in any way shape or form. I definitely appreciate your ideas for those, but needing prepared items for this purpose :)
posted by greta simone at 1:12 PM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Walnut beigli; craquelin
posted by praemunire at 1:28 PM on November 29, 2023

Zingerman's has a lot of sweet breads. The chocolate cherry bread is especially nice.
posted by FencingGal at 1:32 PM on November 29, 2023 [6 favorites]

I send a Larsens kringle to a bunch of people every year. They're huge and very impressive. You can get a variety of other Danish sweet breads and pastries there too, the cardamom braid is SO SO GOOD and although the smorkage is a bit sweet for me it's fun to gift because it is such a funny word written out.
posted by potrzebie at 1:36 PM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

If you send babka, I hope you send some from Breads Bakery in NYC— they are utterly delicious. link here
posted by actionpact at 1:37 PM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Melon pan? Should be available at most Asian bakeries but they're just sweet buns that you eat so aren't the most impressive thing unless you're getting a half-dozen of them.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:39 PM on November 29, 2023

Delancey Street Swirls (poppy, cinnamon or chocolate) are my absolutely favorite babka-ish-like things in the world, they're at Zabars to buy or ship.
They call it swirl cake but the pastry is more like a sweet bread.
posted by ojocaliente at 2:25 PM on November 29, 2023

My heritage traces to Slovenia, and in my family we always make a nut-roll bread called Potica. You can order it.

Sometimes called Povitica in neighboring countries.
posted by bug138 at 5:39 PM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Similar to New Orleans king cake really being bread, Moravian Sugar Cake is really a sweetened yeast bread. It freezes and ships well too.

any portmanteau in a storm, I'm now imagining a loaf of melon pan - it walks the thin line of genius and insanity.
posted by matrixclown at 5:55 PM on November 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

I second FencingGal's recommendation of Zingermans. Pricey but well worth the cost, in my opinion.
posted by Scout405 at 7:38 PM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Stollen would be great, and familiar to folks of German descent. Vermont Country store has it, and probably 500 other sites do too.
posted by SemiSalt at 4:49 AM on November 30, 2023

Sorry for the self-links (no ads!), but here are two of the breads my partner bakes for our neighbors and her coworkers each year.

• Swedish Cardamom Bread
• Cranberry & White Chocolate Bread

posted by terrapin at 5:23 AM on November 30, 2023

You can find some interesting imported German stollen, and also stollen bites, at The Taste of Germany. They also have some other baked stuff that may be of interest. We got things from this company last year, and were very happy with them (Just pay attention to their recommendation to order by December 12 for regular ground shipping; they are based in DC so Florida should be no issue.) For other Mefites info., they ship in the US and to Canada.
posted by gudrun at 7:09 AM on November 30, 2023

Seconding the recommendation for the Breads Bakery babka if that's not already the one you're sending!

If you're willing to travel to Greenpoint I would go to Adam's Delicatessen on Nassau Ave and get the poppyseed roll (makowiec). They have other dope cake and bars sold by the slab so grab a snack while you're there. But, I think the poppyseed roll is the best candidate for shipping, plus it's *delicious* and traditional for Christmas. I think Baczynsky Meat Market on 2nd Ave usually has poppyseed rolls as well, although I don't like them *quite* as much as Adam's.

Not sure if cake technically, but have you considered my personal god-tier Christmas dessert, Lebkuchen? I grew up in a not-particularly-adventurous town in the South but with a German mom and can confirm these don't upset anyone's sensibilities. I'm going to be annoying though and say you should order from here specifically rather than buying the mass-market varieties available at your NYC grocery store/World Market.

For someone who's never tried Lebkuchen, I would recommend the Elisen-Favorites (IMO the "Elisen" varieties are the best, they're richer and nuttier) but if you're willing to spend the big bucks any of the giant metal treasure chest assortments would also be a really fab gift. They ship fast and everything has been fresh and delicious upon arrival.
posted by sparkling at 8:46 AM on November 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

Seconding povitica (called potica by bug138) - we always order from Strawberry Hill, I recommend their English Walnut as traditional. It's a sweet nutty paste filling and more filling than bread, kind of closer to babka than to panettone.
posted by Lady Li at 9:36 AM on November 30, 2023

panforte.
posted by BibiRose at 9:42 AM on November 30, 2023