Panettone Spiced Bread Pudding

At this time of year people bring Food Gifts as Hostess Gifts or for whatever other reason or if they don't know what else to bring.   One of my friends brought a Panettone over for a Fondue  Holiday Potluck Party that I had recently.  Only a portion of the Panettone was eaten and for a few days I stared at the Box of Panettone and was trying to decide what to do with it because I knew I couldn't eat the whole Panettone bread myself.  It's now New Year's Day and I thought about making some sort of Brunch style thing for breakfast so I looked at the Panettone sitting on my counter and decided to make a Bread Pudding.   Bread Pudding is a great way to use up leftover bread, cake or even croissants or Challah bread.   I also decided to toss in a few ingredients that I had leftover from some holiday baking.

Panettone Bread Pudding

Here's what I did.

Panettone Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

Panettone Bread
2 cups of Half/Half Milk  or Milk and Cream seperately
2 tbsp sugar
6 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1 pice of crystallized ginger * optional
1 tbsp dried cherries *optional
2 tbsp chocolate chips *optional but worth it.

Directions:

Cut up the Panettone Bread into small chunks.  If the bread is still soft you can add it to a large baking pan and toast it off in the oven until it's dried out.  In a separate bowl mix Eggs, Milk/Cream, all of the spices and the Sugar and Optional items (chocolate chips, cherries and ginger)  You could also add nuts  if you wanted to on top if you want a crunchier topping.

Pour the egg/milk mixture on top of the bread in a large baking dish.  I used a Lasagna Pan.   If you use a shallower pan you will get more surface crust.  Make sure the milk/cream mixture covers all of the bread and if it doesn't add some more milk/cream until it soaks it all up.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 35 -40 minutes or until the top is brown and crisp.

You could serve it with Vanilla Ice Cream or Greek yoghurt if you wanted to have it as a dessert but it's a great brunch Item for a large group of people.

Easy Leftover Baked Dish.

As usual adjust to your own taste and feel free to change the spices or optional items.