05/12/2017

Panettone Bread & Butter Pudding

Name: Panettone Bread & Butter Pudding
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 55 min
Ingredients: 60 g butter; 300 g panettone (sliced); 2 large eggs; 200 ml whole milk; 200 ml double cream; 1.5 tsp ground mixed spice; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 50 g caster sugar (plus extra for sprinkling); 30 ml brandy; 1 orange (zest only, grated); icing sugar (for dusting)

Fancy something a little different to the traditional Christmas pudding this year? I love Panettone Bread & Butter Pudding as a delicious, light and easily made alternative. Good for using up leftover panettone after Christmas too.

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CHRISTMAS CAKE, MINCE PIES & CHRISTMAS PUDDING: A BIT MUCH?

I sometimes think traditional Christmas sweet treats can be a little ‘samey’. Maybe that’s because Christmas cake, mince pies and Christmas pudding are all based on dried fruit.

So, while I do love dried fruit, in our house we usually forgo the Christmas cake and Christmas pudding and just make lots of mince pies with some of my boozy homemade mincemeat.

However, that does leave us with a dilemma. For those years when we decide to have a traditional Christmas dinner with turkey and all the trimmings, what should we have for dessert if Christmas pudding is off the menu?

Well, for the last couple of years we’ve had bread and butter pudding made with the traditional Italian sweet bread panettone. Of course panettone does contain dried fruit, but it’s not dominated by it, so that’s fine with me.

BREAD & BUTTER PUDDING: MY CHILDHOOD FAVOURITE

Bread and butter pudding was one of my favourite desserts as a child. Occasionally though, now I think about it, it was accompanied by a sharp disappointment. That’s because I was too young to know the difference between bread and butter pudding and simple bread pudding. This meant, after being told we were to have bread pudding I would be on the verge of tears when, instead of the expected soft, light dessert with a crunchy, sugary top, came a solid hunk, slightly grey inside, that now puts me in mind of a phrase of Philip Larkin’s: ‘heavy as hard luck’.

Suffice to say, I’ve never eaten bread pudding since. To be honest, I’m sure my mother’s version was nowhere near as bad as the one in my memory. I bet I never left a crumb of it anyway. But bread and butter pudding remains one of those comforting desserts I’ll always go back to.

Traditionally made to use up stale bread in the days before it was commonplace for so much to be wasted, I think bread and butter pudding is delicious enough to warrant either buying or baking bread especially to make it.

PANETTONE BREAD & BUTTER PUDDING

Panettone is traditionally eaten at Christmas so I think it make sense to use it in my Christmas Day bread and butter pudding. I love its light texture and, as I’ve yet to have a go at making my own, I use a shop-bought one.

Panettone is widely available in a range of sizes, including mini ones which are great if you’re making Panettone Bread & Butter Pudding for only one or two people. Also, if you receive a panettone as a gift, this pudding is a good way of using it up if you don’t fancy eating it as cake.

As it’s Christmas, I like to make this bread & butter pudding extra special. For me, that means a good glug of brandy (amaretto or Cointreau would be good alternatives) plus double cream and rich, fatty Jersey milk. I like to add some Christmassy ground mixed spice as well.

AN EASY PUD

My recipe for Panettone Bread & Butter Pudding is incredibly simple. I beat together the cream and milk, along with eggs, spices, sugar, brandy and vanilla extract and pour it over slices of panettone which I’ve buttered and layered in a greased ovenproof dish. I sprinkle orange zest between the layers and on top. If you want to include more dried fruit, then add some along with the zest: pre-soaking in more brandy would be good!

I squidge the bread down a little, so most of it sits under the liquid, then leave to soak for an hour or so for the flavours to permeate. I’m a big fan of advance preparation (I even cook the turkey a few days before, then slice and freeze it) and this pudding will sit soaking quite happily until you’re ready to bake it, making it a stress-free option for the cook.

I bake the Panettone Bread & Butter Pudding for around 35 – 45 minutes. You can put the baking dish in a roasting tin of water (a bain marie) to help keep it lighter, but it isn’t critical.

SERVING BREAD & BUTTER PANETTONE

To serve the Panettone Bread & Butter Pudding, dust with icing sugar, cut into squares and place in your nicest dishes.

Many people like bread and butter pudding with cream or traditional custard poured over, but we prefer ours just as it is: soft, sweet and creamy with a subtle hint of spice and warming alcohol. In our house we’ll have a glass of dessert wine or a little more brandy on the side.

My recipe will serve 6 but it freezes very well so it’s worth making the full amount even if there are fewer of you. That way, you can have a delicious treat of a pudding with no effort at all. Just reheat in the oven, covered with foil or (as we do) a minute or two in the microwave – minus the foil of course!