Panettone Pudding with cream

I found a panettone lurking in the garage, hidden behind the excess Christmas chocolates and crisps, that had been neglected at Christmas time. How I could I have forgotten about the Christmas panettone? There really must have been so many other things to eat! And I know I should be making it rather than buying it but I don’t have the proper tin and have been using that as an excuse.

So we have been eating it up and it has given me the perfect opportunity to make a panettone version of Bread and Butter Pudding, which was always one of my childhood favourites. It is a much richer, more expensive version of what was essentially a way of making use of leftover bread and butter and turning it into a dessert by adding eggs, milk, some sugar and a few sultanas. Not to be confused with bread pudding, which is quite similar but strangely enough something I really disliked as a child!

Maybe you don’t eat things quite as quickly as we tend to and still have some panettone left over from Christmas… This is such a quick and easy dessert and sounds a lot heavier than it tastes. It lends itself quite well to dinner parties as there are various ways to make it look more sophisticated: I think it would look great made as individual portions in ramekin dishes, or you can bake it in a large dish and cut out portions when it has cooled down using a pastry cutter, as I did in the first picture. It keeps its shape beautifully. If you are just making it for the family it doesn’t need any more effort than you want to make:

Serve it up from the bowl, and eat on its own or with cream or ice cream

I didn’t butter the panettone as you would for a traditional bread and butter pudding as I didn’t think it needed it. I also only used a tablespoon of sugar. I didn’t think it needed to be any sweeter as the panettone is already quite sweet, but was afraid to omit it entirely in case it made the egg and cream mix taste too omlette-like. Some recipes will call for the pudding to be cooked in a water bath but I chose to not to.

Panettone Pudding

Ingredients

350g panettone

250ml milk

125g double cream

2 eggs

1 tablespoon of sugar

Method

Set the oven to 160ºC.

Grease your dish or dishes.

Slice the panettone and arrange in layers in the dish:

Slices of panettone

Put the milk, cream, eggs and sugar into a jug and beat with a fork to mix well.

Pour the cream mixture evenly over the panettone and make sure it is all covered:

Add the liquid

Press the bread down with a fork if necessary. I left mine to soak up the liquid for a few minutes before putting it into the oven.

Bake for around 35-40 minutes or until well browned and firm in the middle:

Panettone Pudding

This would have looked much better in a shallower dish but I don’t have one the right size. Something I will be looking out for, or might try making in my ceramics class, if I am feeling very optimistic!

Serve warm with cream, ice cream or just on its own.

Categories: Baking, Desserts, Recipes

Tags: baking, bread, Christmas, cream cheese, dessert, dinner party, dinner party desserts, dried fruit, panettone, recipe, seasonal cooking