Panettone is a popular cake around Christmas time, but what to do with a leftover loaf when the holidays are over? The easiest answer is slice it up and make french toast. You can do this with the big loaves and the miniature loaves, and it might be worth making a trip to the store to get a post-holiday panettone just to serve it up for breakfast. I would opt for the large loaves if you want to serve a crowd and get a miniature one (which is what I used for the picture above) if you just want to indulge yourself.
Slice the bread to the thickness of regular sandwich bread, the prepare the egg and milk mixture as you would for ordinary french toast. Panettone has a sweet, buttery flavor and is studded with raisins, currants, candied citrus and other dried fruits. I didn’t add any sweetener to the egg and milk mixture in this recipe because the panettone is so flavorful on its own. It’s a bit like using cinnamon-swirl bread, where you want to be able to savor the flavors in the bread because they’re great to start out with.
Serve this with maple syrup or honey and you can enjoy a bit of the holidays long after the holidays have past.
Panettone French Toast
Since panettone can vary in size, you might find that you have leftover milk/egg mixture or need to double the amount given below for a particular recipe. Be a bit flexible and just keep this in mind while you’re working. The recipe can be halved or doubled easily.
2 mini panettones or 1/2 loaf large panettone
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
Cut panettone into slices about the same thickness as, or slightly thicker than, sliced sandwich bread with a serrated knife.
Preheat a lightly greased skillet over medium heat.
Whisk eggs and milk together and pour into a pie plate.
Dip bread slices into egg/milk mixture and flip once to coat well. Place on hot skillet and cook for 2-3 minutes, until golden brown, then flip to brown the second side. Repeat with all remaining bread slices.
Serve immediately.
The mini panettones will serve 1 person each. One half loaf of the larger panettone will serve 2-4 people
confectionate
January 3, 2010Sounds yummy! I lived in Rome for four months so have a very special place in my heart for Panettone 🙂
Anna
January 3, 2010Panettone is my favorite part of the holidays – I always had to explain to my non-Panettone-eating friends how it’s not at ALL like fruitcake. This french toast recipe looks delish!
Dave -nibbleanibble
January 3, 2010Great recipe, even after the holidays.
Jessica
January 3, 2010Looks delicious. My favorite part of holiday leftovers is challah french toast.
On a totally different note: I was buying some necessities at the King Arthur site and happened on Fiori de Sicilia–they say it’s a traditional flavoring in panettone and pandoro. Do you know anything about it? Just curious. I’ve never run across it before.
(If you’re curious: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/fiori-di-sicilia-1-oz)
Cheers!
Diana
January 4, 2010Challah or Pannetone French Toast has been our Christmas tradition for over 10 years – its yummy.
Morta Di Fame
January 4, 2010Great idea! Love me some panettone and and the pandoro, too!
debbie
January 4, 2010I did a baked panettone french toast this weekend for a family brunch–HUGE hit. Added a bit of orange peel/juice and a splash of vanilla, too.
Laura
January 4, 2010Don’t have any Panettone leftover to try this. 🙁
Heehee. And we even bought two of the big Costco boxes.
CherylK
December 27, 2010Looks lovely. Might just have to try this for New Year’s Day brunch!