No Chilean Christmas celebration is complete without a glass of cola de mono and a slice of pan de pascua. Yes, the name literally means Easter bread, but it is in fact a Christmas tradition! Many Chileans actually use “Pascua” interchangeably with “Navidad” to mean Christmas.
This sweet bread is similar to the fruitcakes common at North American and European Christmas celebrations. It contains dried fruits like cherries, raisins, figs, apricots, golden raisins, etc., as well as candied ginger. Some versions also have nuts. Unlike fruitcake, pan de pascua really is more of a bread. It is sweet, but yeasty and much lighter than dense, brick-like fruitcake.
Check out this recipe and see if you can whip up your own pan de pascua!