Panettone Pudding

Panettone Pudding with brandy-soaked mixed dried fruit, walnuts and spices, a delicious festive treat full of christmassy flavours. The pudding is made with evaporated milk and eggs and has no cream added, but it's still rich and indulgent, and it goes down well with the whole family.

Panettone is a delicious Italian sweet bread that has become increasingly popular at Christmas. It can be as plain or as decadent as one wishes, and full of a wide range of festive flavours.

It's a Christmas treat that is very easily available in most shops at this time of the year, and it can be enjoyed on its own, or with a nice cup of hot festive drink.

But if you happen to have too much panettone that cannot be consumed at Christmas, or you have some stale leftover slices, it can be transformed into a brand-new dessert.

The Italian panettone is actually very similar to the Romanian Cozonac which is very popular at Christmas too or any other big celebration throughout the year.

This panettone bread pudding can be enjoyed either on Christmas day or on Boxing Day when we all tend to use up whatever leftovers we have around from Christmas. Either way, it's a great festive treat that goes down a treat every single time.

Jump to:

• Ingredients needed
• Easy swaps
• Step-by-step photos and instructions
• Expert tips
• What to serve with panettone pudding
• Panettone Pudding

Ingredients needed

• panettone - it can have any flavour and filling, mine had mixed dried fruit added
• walnuts
• brandy-soaked mixed dried fruit - you can also used regular mixed dried fruit if you can't find any, or soak them up yourself in any brandy or rum
• eggs - I used large eggs
• evaporated milk
• butter - to grease the casserole and also scatter around the pudding
• cinnamon & mixed spice - for a Christmas touch
• sugar - it can be omitted if you wish, some panettone are rather sweet themselves
• white chocolate chips - optional, they can be added just before the pudding come out of the oven, as they will burn if they are added from the beginning

Easy swaps

This pudding recipe is extremely versatile, and ingredients can be swapped for whatever else you have around. Walnuts can be swapped for pecans or any nuts you have.

Brandy-soaked dried fruit can be swapped for regular dried fruit or dried cranberries or currants, or even a mixture of them all.

If you don't have evaporated cream, you can either use full-fat milk, or a combo of milk and cream for a richer touch.

Step-by-step photos and instructions

1. use half of the butter to grease the casserole well
2. tear the panettone into pieces and arrange them onto the casserole
3. scatter the chopped walnuts and mixed dried fruit over the panettone pieces
4. in a jug, add the eggs and beat them well, then pour over the evaporated milk and mix again
5. add the sugar and spices, then pour the mixture over the panettone
6. cut the remaining butter into small cubes and scatter them on top
7. leave the mixture to soak well for 5 minutes
8. bake in the preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) for 30-40 minutes until set and golden
9. If you use any chocolate chips, add them just as the pudding comes out of the oven when it's still hot enough to melt them slightly

Expert tips

This pudding is absolutely delicious and dead easy to make. It can be as festive as you wish, and you can add any other ingredients you have around.

If the pudding starts to brown in the oven before it had time to set well, cover it with kitchen foil or lower the temperature to 160 degrees Celsius (325 Fahrenheit).

Leaving the panettone to soak up the milk mixture ensures an even baking, if you can soak it up for longer, even better. My Christmas breakfast casserole, which is a savoury variation of a bread pudding was left to soak overnight.

Another great variation of a bread pudding is my Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Butterscotch sauce, and what a treat that is too!

What to serve with panettone pudding

This pudding is absolutely delicious on its own, but if you want to take it to the very next level, you can serve it with vanilla custard, butterscotch or caramel sauce, vanilla ice cream or cream.

At this time of the year the shops have a wide range of festive cream varieties, from Bailey's thick cream, to brandy cream, so anything goes.

If you’ve liked this recipe or any other recipe on the blog then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM , YOUTUBE, TIK TOK , FLIPBOARD and PINTEREST to see more delicious food and what I’m getting up to.