Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding

Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding recipe

I’m not a huge fan of the whole New Year, New Me movement. January is a bloody miserable month, so I, for one, don’t intend to enter into any sort of healthy eating programme anytime soon. If you’re with me on this and have a panettone leftover over from Christmas (alongside the 3 tubs of Celebrations, a lot of nuts and 2 kilos of cheese) then I can highly recommend using it to make this best ever Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding.

I have never been a fan of B&B pudding in the past. It’s a wet bread situation for me, and one I’ve always avoided. Until now; thanks to Jamie Oliver, this Panettone Bread and Butter pudding has changed my outlook, and my waist size, forever. This dessert is to die for, quick and easy to make and an absolute crowd pleaser. My panettone was chocolate chip, but any flavour works here. The crusts are cut off and used to form a sort of base for the pudding while the rest of it gets a generous soak in a sublime creamy, buttery vanilla custard. Just to add to the whole deliciousness, dark chocolate is dotted through the pud, for extra richness. Serve hot, warm or even cold the next day with cream, custard and/or ice cream.

Don’t panic, if you don’t have a panettone going begging, your local Italian deli may have some left (ours does, and they’re half price) or at a push, so does Amazon, so off you go.

My panettone was so delicious, this recipe was a really good way to stop me just eating the whole thing, buttered. The other ingredients are simple, wholesome and give this pudding incredible richness and flavour. My chocolate chip panettone, along with the extra chocolate really does make this choc-tastic, if you want less of a chocolate situation, choose a plain one or leave the extra chocolate out.

Right, enough of the waffle, here’s the low down. Butter a suitable 9 inch round baking dish and pre heat your oven to 160 degrees fan assisted. Pour the milk, cream and butter into a medium sized pan and bring up to the simmer, for around 5 minutes, ensuring the butter has melted.

While this is happening, whisk the 5 eggs with the 100g caster sugar for a couple of minutes until light and fluffy. A stand mixer is good here, or do by hand expending any post Christmas energy you have left.

Whisk in the vanilla extract then, with the whisk running, pour on the hot cream mixture and whisk until smooth.

Pop this one side for a mo while you slice the edges off your panettone in rough, thin slices. Press these into the base of your buttered dish, forming a sort of base for the pud.

Pour a third of your custard mixture over the base and allow it to settle in.

Tear or chop up the rest of the panettone into rough, not very even sized pieces and, a few at a time, soak them in the rest of the custard then pile onto the base of the dish.

I used a slotted spoon to remove them from the custard to avoid custardy sleeves. Dot over some of the broken up dark chocolate as you go. Then repeat with the rest of the panettone cubes, piling them on and dipersing the rest of the chocolate as you go. If there’s any custard left in your bowl, pour it over the top of the pudding.

In a final flourish, and for a bit of crunch, scatter over some demerara sugar then place the whole glorious business on a baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes, or until golden, slightly firm, but still with a little wobble *me* and smelling divine.

Leave your pud to sit for around 10 minutes, or longer to serve at room temp, before serving in large dollops with the usual cream, ice cream and/or custard. Divine.

Having polished this off last night, I can highly recommend it cold, the day after, with a positive lake of double cream. Like I said, new year, same old me.

Lucy x

Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding recipe

You will just need bowls and a 9 inch round baking dish for this

Makes enough for a greedy 6 to 8

750g panettone, mine was chocolate chip

300ml milk, mine was whole

300ml double cream

125g butter, plus a little more to butter your dish

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

5 eggs

100g caster sugar

60g dark chocolate

2 teaspoons demerara sugar

Cream, custard and/or ice cream to serve

Pre heat your oven to 160 degrees fan assisted and butter your chosen 9inch round baking dish.

Pour your milk and double cream into a medium sized pan and add the butter. Bring up to the simmer over a gentle heat until the butter has melted, for around 5 minutes. Stir to combine.

In a bowl or your stand mixer, whisk the eggs and caster sugar for around 2 minutes until they’re light and airy. Mix in the vanilla extract. Pour the hot milk and cream, whilst whisking, onto the egg and sugar mix until everything’s well combined.

Cut the crusts off the edges of your panettone in thinnish, rough slices. Use these to line your buttered dish to create a sort of base, pressing them into the edges of the dish. Pour a third of the custard onto the base and allow it to sink in. Roughly chop or tear the rest of the panettone into pieces. Drop them into the custard mixture, then scoop them out (I used a slotted spoon) and pile them onto the base. Break up your dark chocolate into small shards and dot over the mixture. Continue to soak the rest of the panettone and add to the dish, dotting on the rest of the chocolate. If you have any custard left, pour it over the top of the bread and butter pudding.

Sprinkle the top with demerara sugar for crunch then bake for around 25 minutes when your pudding will be golden, crisp on the top and smelling amazing.

Serve in huge dollops with cream, custard and/or ice cream. Any leftovers are perfect cold, or re-heat if you like.