Bread Pudding is one of my all time favourite desserts. Because you can eat if for breakfast! I mean, it is bread, eggs, milk, and in this case fruit, so surely it counts as breakfast!?
I love using Panettone for bread pudding in the winter. You can find this yeasted Italian seasonal bread just about anywhere starting in late November. It is usually studded with dried or candied fruit, or bits of chocolate or even nuts like chestnuts. So it has plenty of built-in flavour. But feel free to swap out challah, brioche, or even thick cut texas toast for your bread pudding.
These days I can even find gluten free Panettone imported from Italy! Very happy for this, so if you are gluten free, keep your eyes out for it!
This is one of those easy to whip up dishes, and uses easy to find ingredients. Nothing out of the ordinary for a dish that was designed to use up stale bread. Soaking it in a custard mixture of eggs, milk, cream and sugar softened the bread. Once it goes into the oven, the custard puffs up and creates a lovely pudding texture all around the bread. Suddenly what was supposed to be a simple way to use up leftovers becomes the most comforting dessert.
So when using any bread, make sure it isn’t too fresh. In the recipe here, you will bake the bread cubes in the oven till just getting a lovely crust. This will dry them out enough to soak in the custard liquid and puff up. If too fresh, the bread will not need as much of the custard, leaving the finished product too runny.
Custard
You will start with a simple whisking of eggs, sugar and dairy. A bit of vanilla for a gentle flavour burst. The bread really doesn’t need more help than this.
Yes, milk and cream are the classic dairy ingredients. But why not switch out eggnog for some of the milk? ;D
Spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, even chai spice blend or pumpkin pie spice blend can be used to give the custard base some extra oomph. You may want to add any of these if you are using a more simple bread bread like challah or texas toast.
Method
Once the bread cubes are dried out, you will lay them out in a greased baking dish. You want to use an 8 x 8 inch or thereabouts for this recipe. You will be saving 3 cups of the bread cubes for my special topper for this bread pudding. The custard gets whisked together and gently poured over the breadcubes. Gently use a spoon to make sure everything is well blended and the cubes and pushed into the custard.
My Topper
This is where some fun happens! Take some of my Salted Bourbon Caramel Sauce and warm it in a small pot. Once it is runny and you’ve let it cool a bit, you will pour it over the remaining bread cubes and toss them so that they are evenly coated. This get scattered evenly over the bread pudding. Push them gently into the custard so that they are somewhat submerged. Now it goes into the oven to bake. Once out of the oven you will find that the caramel cubes on top have created a beautiful crust with that lovely sweet and salty flavour.
Citrus Compote
During winter, we really have amazing fruit options. Sure the berries of summer aren’t fresh or local, but citrus makes up for it. This compote really takes all the citrus that is available to us and turns them into the best sauce to spoon over desserts. A combo of clementines, oranges, fresh or frozen cranberries, and pomegranate arils are combined with maple syrup and orange juice. Think of this as a looser cranberry sauce with the added bonus of juicy fruit segments. You can make the compote in advance, and stored in the fridge till needed.
Serving
Let the bread pudding cool down to just warm, so that it can set up. In fact you can even let it set up in the fridge overnight, and bring out to warm up to room temperature. You can also warm it slightly in a 325F oven for 10 minutes or so, if so desired. Dust with icing sugar if you feel so inclined. Spoon the compote over and around a serving of the pudding, and call it breakfast or serve as part of a brunch spread. The pudding will keep, if covered, in the fridge for up to three days.
And yes, you can serve it as dessert. Feel free to serve the pudding on its own with an extra drizzle of warmed Caramel Sauce and ice cream if you want!
Serve the compote over pancakes, crepes, waffles, even oatmeal!
If you make this Panettone Bread Pudding with Citrus Compote, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! It’s always lovely to hear from you guys, and I always do my best to respond to each comment or question. And of course, if you do make this recipe, and you post it on Instagram, don’t forget to also tag me so I can see! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is such a treat.
Love Jen
Panettone Bread Pudding with Citrus Compote
Ingredients
Bread Pudding
- 600 grams (approx 19 oz, or 10 cups) Panettone bread, cut into 1 inch cubes
- 3 tbsp butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1/4 cup Salted Bourbon Caramel Sauce, see Notes for link
- 5 large eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk, substitute eggnog for some of this if you like
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 3 tbsp stick butter, melted
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Citrus Compote
- 2 oranges, Cara Cara, Blood or Navel
- 2 clementines, peeled and segmented
- 2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen
- 1 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup pomegranate arils
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350F. Spread the cubed panettone onto a baking sheet and toast in the oven till lightly browned, turning them over once or twice so that they toast evenly. This should take about 20 minutes.
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Grease an 8 x 8 inch baking dish with high sides (or something similar) and set aside.
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While the panettone is toasting, melt the butter in a small pot and let it cool slightly.
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Bring the Salted Bourbon Caramel Sauce to a low simmer in a small pot till runny. Set aside.
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Saving two cups of the toasted bread cubes in a separate bowl, place the rest of the bread cubes in the greased baking dish.
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In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, melted butter, salt and vanilla.
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Pour this mixture over the bread and toss gently to get the bread started in soaking it all up.
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Press down gently to get the bread soaking up all the liquid.
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Preheat the oven to 325F.
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Take the remaining bread cubes and toss with the runny caramel sauce to coat evenly. Scatter these evenly over the bread and custard in the baking dish. Push them gently into the custard so that they are slightly submerged.
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Place the pan onto a baking sheet and place this onto the middle rack of the oven.
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Bake for 50 minutes or until set. Check the middle section with a toothpick.
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Remove from the oven. Let cool down slightly before serving with the sauce (see below). It can also be stored in the fridge, for up to three days.
Citrus Compote
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Zest the oranges and set this aside. Using a sharp paring knife, cut off the peel and white pith from the oranges. Working over a small bowl to catch the juices, cut between the membranes to release the segments into the bowl. Add the segmented clementines to the bowl.
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Combine the orange zest, cranberries, syrup, orange juice and vanilla in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Stir occasionally until the cranberries have burst open and the sauce has slightly thickened, about 5-10 minutes.
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Chill till cold.
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Gently stir in the orange and clementine segments, as well as the pomegranate arils into the cooled sauce.
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This can be made ahead and stored in a sealed container in the fridge for quite a few days.
Recipe Notes
This will feed 6-8.
Alternate Serving for the Pudding: a side or topping of ice cream and more caramel sauce!
Use the Citrus Compote over pancakes, crepes, oatmeal etc. Even on its own, it makes a lovely treat.
Here is the Salted Bourbon Caramel Sauce recipe. You will want to have this prepared ahead of time.
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