Panettone Bread Pudding is a great recipe for re-purposing leftover panettone. Top it off with a brandy-spiked toffee sauce to make it extra special and indulgent.
Ingredient Notes
Panettone- This recipe is great for leftover store-bought, or homemade panettone. Any type of panettone is fine, but I suggest sticking to a traditional version. I used a less-than-successful loaf of homemade panettone for the bread pudding depicted here.
Flavorings- The orange zest and nutmeg are optional, but I really love how they enhance the flavors of the panettone. Lemon zest and cinnamon would be good substitutes.
Dairy- I would avoid non-dairy or low fat substitutions.
Recipe Steps
To make panettone bread pudding, first cut the bread into 1 inch cubes (1). Dry out the bread cubes in a 325F oven until completely dry on the outside and lightly golden.
In a bowl, combine the milk, cream, eggs, sugar and flavorings (2). Soak the bread in the custard at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours at room temperature (3). Top with almonds and bake in a 350F oven until puffed and set (4-5).
To make the toffee sauce, bring the brandy and brown sugar to a simmer in a pot (6). Add the cream, salt and vanilla, and simmer another couple minutes (7). Emulsify in butter until fully incorporated (8).
Recipe Tips and FAQs
- Toast your bread. Drying out the bread in the oven helps the bread absorb more of the flavorful, custard.
- Let your pudding soak. Before baking, let the bread soak up the custard for the best end result.
- Make it your own. Feel free to tweak this recipe to make it your own. You could even use this same recipe with challah or brioche instead of panettone.
Bread pudding can sit up to 24hrs in the fridge before baking.
When bread pudding is done baking, it should puff up and there should be no visible unabsorbed liquids. A tester inserted into the center should come out clean.
After baking and serving bread pudding, store any leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days.
More Holiday Sweets
- The Best Easy Panettone
- Sicilian Cannoli
- Cuccidati (Italian Fig Cookies)
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies with Chocolate and Jam
- Nutella Cannoli
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Panettone Bread Pudding with Brandy Sauce
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
Description
Panettone Bread Pudding is a great recipe for re-purposing leftover panettone. Top it off with a brandy-spiked toffee sauce to make it extra special and indulgent.
Ingredients
Bread pudding:
- 6 cups panettone cut into 1-inch cubes (~13oz/370g)
- 1 ½ cups whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 large eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon brandy (optional)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon orange zest (optional)
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt (¼ tsp fine salt)
- Dash nutmeg, freshly grated
- ½ cup sliced almonds
Sauce:
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons brandy
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt (⅛ tsp fine salt)
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, sliced
Instructions
- Dry out bread: Heat oven to 325F. Place cubed bread on a sheet tray and bake 8-12 minutes, stirring half way through, until dried out and lightly golden brown.
- Prep pan: Butter an 8 or 9-inch square baking pan. Place bread cubes in prepared pan.
- Add wet ingredients & soak: In a large bowl, whisk together milk, cream, eggs, sugar, brandy, vanilla, zest, salt and nutmeg. Pour custard mixture over bread cubes, pressing down gently to make sure all the bread is coated. Allow to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes to 2 hours, or up to 24 hours in the refrigerator.
- Heat oven: Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Top & bake: Sprinkle almonds over bread. Bake in the center of the oven for 30-45 minutes or lightly browned, puffed and set with a slight jiggle. A tester inserted into the center should come out clean. Allow to cool at least 15 minutes before serving.
- Make sauce: While the bread pudding cools, stir together the brown sugar and brandy in a small sauce pan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, swirling the pan occasionally. Do not stir. Cook 3-4 minutes or until thickened and slightly syrupy. Reduce heat to low and stir in cream, vanilla and salt. Simmer another 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and add butter to pan, 1 tablespoon at a time. Swirl pan to emulsify in butter before adding the next slice. Repeat until all the butter is incorporated.
- Serve: Spoon the sauce over the bread pudding, and serve immediately. You can also serve this chilled or at room temperature. Enjoy.
Notes
Store leftover bread pudding and sauce in the fridge for up to 5 days.
I do not recommend freezing leftover bread pudding.
Try this recipe with other bread, such as challah or brioche.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Italian, American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/12 of pudding + sauce
- Calories: 295
- Sugar: 15g
- Sodium: 230mg
- Fat: 15g
- Saturated Fat: 7g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 31g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 8g
- Cholesterol: 115mg
Great recipe and glad I found it. I looked at many other recipes for Panettone Bread Pudding but yours just seemed right, including oven toasting the bread cubes. The ingredient proportions and steps of preparation are professional quality and the Brandy Sauce with the pudding was spot on.
Thank you for the lovely comment, Kim! That really means a lot to me. I hope you have a fantastic New Year!
Looks delicious, the almond topping probably adds such a great crunch.
Thank you and it does!
I love the sliced almonds. Will try that in my next bread pudding along with the candied pecans.
That sounds like a great combination!
I have serious weakness for bread n butter pudding. This one really hits the spot 🙂 Wish you all the best in 2016 Sabrina!
Thanks so much! Same to you, Jin :). Happy New Year!
This sounds wonderful and looks absolutely gorgeous, Sabrina. I could go for a few slices right now. Happy New Year to you! 🙂
Thanks so much, Nicole! Happy New Year!
Wow, that’s doubling the pleasure. Looks great! 🙂
Thanks so much, Ronit!