What do you do with store bought panettone you were given as a hostess gift for the holidays or you bought at TJMaxx on clearance? Cube it up and make bread pudding! Panettone is a tall, Italian cake that resembles sweet and soft sourdough bread with raisins and dried citrus fruit.
During Christmas and New Years, this tall “cake in a box” can be purchased in department stores, upscale supermarkets, and World food markets. The day after Christmas, these pricey cakes or loaves of bread are marked down 50% but because they are wrapped in plastic inside that red box with a ribbon handle, they are still yummy and begging to be put in bread pudding.
Another shortcut is not having to add raisins in this bread pudding. Panettone is chock full of raisins, dried lemon, citron and sometimes apricot. I reduced the amount of sugar for this recipe from my original bread pudding because the cake/bread is much sweeter than the French bread it calls for. Save a bowl and cube it up and pour the milk over the cubes in the baking dish.
You can serve it warm or my family likes to eat it cold for breakfast.
Panettone Bread Pudding
Ingredients
- 1 2-lb 3.2-oz panettone cake, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 16 cups)
- 31/2 cups whole milk
- 3 large eggs
- 11/2 cups sugar
- 1/3 cup melted butter divided
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup honey
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚.
- Place bread cubes in a greased 13x9-inch baking dish; pour milk over bread and let stand 10 minutes, turning once to soak up milk.
- Whisk together eggs, sugar, 3 tablespoons melted butter, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Pour the egg mixture over the soaked bread and gently turn cubes from bottom of dish to the top with a fork or tongs. Don’t stir vigorously or the bread will fall apart.
- Stir together remaining butter and honey with a fork or whisk and drizzle over the bread pudding mixture. Bake for 40 minutes or until center is set and outside edges are bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
Belinda Henderson
I make French toast with panettone bread. Very interested in bread pudding recipe. Any Preheat oven or just follow your regular bread pudding instructions.
gritsandgouda
So sorry I'm just now seeing this. You can definitely use it in my regular bread pudding recipe instead of French bread!