Desserts/TreatsItalian Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding

Italian Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

With this budget-friendly recipe, learn how to make an amazing Italian French Toast using Panettone!

Create this classic Bread and Pudding dessert from Panettone cake using eggs, dried fruits, and butter.

Panettone Bread and Pudding For Christmas

A classic British Bread and Pudding dessert was taken to another level using traditional Italian Panettone cake.

Italian Panettone 101

What is the Italian Panettone?

Panettone, in English, is a rich Italian Christmas cake filled with eggs, dried fruits, and butter.

I would have never thought to make bread and butter pudding with Pannetone.

I made an Italian French Toast using the Panettone, which is another way to switch things up using different ingredients.

This is just one of those oven dishes you know you will love just by looking at the pictures.

Nicola, a CBB recipe creator, spares no detail regarding this pudding and wants you all to try it.

She also gives us the “Budget Breakdown” so you can see this frugal dessert won’t cost you lots of money.

Creating Panettone Bread Pudding

Bauli Italian Panettone Cake
IL Panettone Classico

This pudding melts in your mouth with the pairing of lemon and orange flavors of the Panettone bread.

Served hot with a touch of cream, it would satisfy anybody’s sweet tooth in a second.

Italian Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding is pure indulgence, which anybody can easily make at home.

It can be eaten hot or cold either way; you may never go back to the old way of making this pudding. 

Traditional British Bread and Butter Pudding

My dad always made it and used plain, old-fashioned white bread.

We always had it with English custard, but I think my recipe, even though I say it myself, is up there in the “wow factor” of bread puddings.

I love Italian food, from Pizza to Pasta to something sweet like Tiramisu.

Italians use diverse ingredients in their cooking, which you can adapt to almost anything.

That’s when I thought, why not use the Italian sweet bread Panettone to make a British pudding?

Panettone bread is comparable to fruit bread in Britain, with orange and lemon peel and raisins scattered through it.

Originally from Milan, Italy, this sweet bread is usually eaten around Christmas to celebrate New Year’s.

It’s pretty easy to make, and you could add fruit, like blackberries or even strawberries.

– Nicola Don

British Family Recipes

Panettone-bread-and-butter-pudding-720x1080

What do you need to move to Canada, you ask?

I always get this question, and it’s more than packing boxes and filling out paperwork for immigration.

Not only did I need my UK passport when I moved to Canada I needed to bring over the British family traditions I grew up with.

You’re never far from home, even if you live thousands of miles away.

Although you can find traditional British pub food and desserts in pubs like

  • Fish and chips
  • Bangers and mash
  • Toad in a hole
  • Yorkshire pudding
  • Spotted dick

You can also bring home the traditional British foods to your family by preparing them yourself.

Bread and Butter pudding is one of the best British recipes my friends and family enjoy and requests I make when we host a dinner party.

Growing up, my mum had her apron on early in the morning, baking bread and the house smelled good.

My mum has always been and still is as passionate about cooking as my dad is about DIY.

That’s why I captured the best of both worlds when enjoying the kitchen and being a handy guy.

Culture in the UK not only stems from Royalty and a history filled with championship and sorrow, we are also passionate about our gardens, food, and music. 

My mum enjoyed cooking and taught me how to prepare British dessert recipes and main dishes because she wanted me to carry the tradition to my family.

Bread Pudding vs. Bread and Butter Pudding

panettone bread pudding
Italian Holiday Desserts Panettone Bread and Pudding

I think there is a difference between bread pudding and bread and butter pudding, so don’t get the two mixed up.

I was more of a fan of the bread and butter pudding because it was more like a pudding that was creamy in your mouth with a crunchy topping.

On the other hand, bread pudding was too stodgy for me (thick and dull).

My mum might have made it every few months when I lived at home, as it was my dad’s favorite.

She also loads it up with raisins, which I enjoy as it adds texture to the bread pudding.

There are so many bread and butter pudding recipes, and although I do fancy my mums, I wanted to create my own.

I will give Nicola’s recipe a whirl next time I get my hands on a Panettone cake.

If we invite friends over or for a weeknight dinner, I want something easy and fast.

I created a bread and butter pudding with ordinary day-old white bread, which I will soak in coconut milk, cardamom, and egg mixture, apart from the more traditional dessert my mum makes.

The coconut milk takes the dish to another level in the flavor department.

I sprinkle the top with sugar and bake it until it is crispy; otherwise, it’s no good. 

When you make either one, you must bake it until the top is crispy because you don’t want a soggy bread pudding.

Ingredients Pannetone Bread and Butter Pudding
How to make Italian Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding

How To Make Panettone Bread Pudding

See the Printable Version Below.

Ingredients For Bread and Butter Pudding

  • 1x Panettone (Italian sweet bread)
  • (Or 8-10 slices of  stale white bread halved)
  • 5 cups of milk
  • One large egg
  • One large egg yolk
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 4 tbsp Brown Sugar
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Optional: For extra luxury, substitute for half milk half cream to make it extra creamy

Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding Cost Breakdown

This is the approximate breakdown of cost totals $4.32 for a fresh, piping hot, creamy Italian Panettone Bread Pudding that you can’t buy in a shop.

Of course, depending on where you live, the costs to make this Panettone dessert may differ.

  • Pannetone bread $1.47 (sale price)
  • Eggs x2 $0.30
  • Milk $1.35
  • Butter – $0.75
  • Brown Sugar – $0.30
  • Cinnamon & Nutmeg – $0.15
  • Serves 6-8 people
  • Preheat oven to (220 c) 428f

How do I make bread and butter pudding?

This easy bread and butter pudding is not only super fast to make but also delicious and can become a tradition in your home as it has been in ours.

  • Slice Panettone bread and layer into the dish (if you are using bread, slice into triangles, then butter before layering)    
  • Then, in a jug, combine the milk, eggs, 1 tbsp brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg until mixed thoroughly. (If you are using just bread, I would add another spoonful of sugar as the Italian bread is sweet already).
  • Before placing the liquid in the dish, place a few nobs of butter in between the Pannetone. Then, pour the creamy mixture over the top. 
  • Press lightly into the mixture with your hand or the back of the spoon until it’s covered and peeking out above the milk mixture.
  • Cover and place in the refrigerator for around 1 hour.
  • You can put it in longer, as the more it sits, the more it soaks all the mixture into the bread.
  • Before putting it into the oven, sprinkle the rest of the brown sugar onto the top of the dish. This will give it a crunchy caramel flavor on top.
  • Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the top has browned.
Baked Italian Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding wm
Italian Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding In The Oven
Panettone-bread-and-butter-pudding-720x1080

Italian Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding

Yield: 8
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour

A festive treat for everyone that you can enjoy all year long if you stock up on Panettone at Christmas to make creamy Italian Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding.

Ingredients

  • 1x Panettone (Italian sweet bread)
  • (Or 8-10 slices of stale white bread halved)
  • 5 cups of milk
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 4 tbsp Brown Sugar
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • Optional: For an extra luxury substitute for
  • half milk and half cream to make it extra creamy

Instructions

    1. Slice Panettone bread and layer into the dish (if you are using bread, slice into triangles, then butter before layering)
    2. Then in a jug, combine the milk, eggs, 1 tbsp brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg until mixed thoroughly.
    3. (If you are using just bread, I would add another spoonful of sugar as the Italian bread is sweet already)
    4. Before placing the liquid in the dish, place a few nobs of butter in between the Pannetone. Then pour the creamy mixture over the top.
    5. Now press lightly down into the mixture with your hand or the back of the spoon until it's covered and peeking out above the milk mixture.
    6. Cover and place in the refrigerator for around 1 hour.
    7. You can put it in for longer, as the more it sits, the more it soaks all the mixture into the bread.
    8. Before putting it into the oven, sprinkle the rest of the brown sugar onto the top of the dish.  This will give it a crunchy caramel flavor on-top.
    9. Bake for 40-45 mins or until the top has browned.

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

Don’t forget to stock up on Panettone after the holidays as they get highly reduced in price.

You can store the panettone cake in your freezer for up to a year!

So, my friends, you have an easy Italian Panettone bread and butter pudding.

Enjoy,

– Nicola Don

Other CBB Recipes

  1. This recipe looks awesome! My husband is British so this maybe the fabulous twist on motherland classic that he would enjoy!
    Thanks for sharing this, Mr. CBB
    Lindsey

    • Hi Lindsey, if you cant get the Italian bread try any fruit bread it works along the same lines just add your grated zest if lemon and orange and your hubby won’t be disappointed!

  2. This recipe looks delicious, haven’t had bread ‘n butter pudding since the last time I visited my Grannie in Finchley, London Frightening how many years ago that was!). Absolutely drooling!! Thanks for the memory, now I will have to make it . . .

  3. I hoping I’m leaving my comment in the right spot:) Nicola, this pudding looks really good, I have never made anything like this before. Although my grandmother makes pudding and sauce as a dessert sometimes after Sunday dinners. It is delicious. I have no idea what the recipe is though. # CBB

    • You should comment more often then Wendy haha.. yes my darlin you did it right! I also think you should make this super easy dessert even if you just use white bread. It’s amazing and doesn’t take much effort at all and you can enjoy hanging with the family while it’ sin the oven.

    • Wendy this is so easy and you will make it time and time again its that good! Even add some Chocolate buttons for that extra indulgence:)!!

    • That’s ok you bring me up to new levels all the time with food you make. Besides it was Nicola’s inspiration today with this recipe. She’ll be sharing recipes with CBB when she can since she’s from my neck of the woods.

  4. This looks so yummy !!!!!!! I just had a thought for it…. ever tried making it with the Cinnabon raisin bread???? I get that every once in a while if it’s on sale….Do you butter the fruit bread when you make it that way?? I vaguely remember my grandma on Dad’s side making a bread pudding sometimes but this looks so much better (sorry Grandma!!!) #CBB

  5. …This looks super yummy…I think it is something that a peanut butter and jam person like myself could handle ….Thank You…#CBB.

  6. I haven’t had Panettone since I was in Italy. This post brought back so many delicious memories, and I love the cost breakdown! Incorporating this bread into a bread and butter pudding is nothing short of genius, the texture and flavors would just be perfect. This is definitely going into my ‘to try’ list of recipes :).

    • Thanks for dropping in to check out my page! If you try Nicola’s recipe be sure to leave a review for other fans. I know that we have panettone every year in our house and we’ve made french toast with it as well… it’s amazing!

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