Panettone bread pudding is, like most bread puddings, quite easy to make - but it does diverge from many other recipes in a few important ways. Most importantly, we need to take into account both the freshness and the sweetness of the panettone.

The notes below cover some of the key factors to take into consideration, and provide some notes on substitutions and variations.  You'll also find a section on the crème anglaise, which takes a bit more care in preparation than the bread pudding itself.  That being said, I think you'll find the whole thing pretty delightfully simple - perfect for the holidays!

Because panettone is already a very bread-like cake, it's not all that difficult to build a bread pudding recipe around it.  Panettone is sweeter than bread, so the sugar added to the recipe is pretty minimal.  I like bread pudding that's not overly sweet, especially bearing in mind that you're going to add more sugar with the crème anglaise.  Taste test a bit of your panettone before you start baking - if it's not very sweet, you might want to up the sugar called for in the recipe by a little bit.

One of the best things about bread pudding is that it gives us a good way to use up stale leftover bread.  That's great, but unless you've let your panettone sit out for a while, you're probably not starting with something dry/stale.  Because fresh panettone (like fresh bread) will have a higher moisture content, you need more of it to soak up the egg/milk mixture.  Picture a damp sponge vs a dry one - that's basically what we're dealing with.  The recipe as given below assumes that you're starting with fresh panettone, but if you do have a stale or dry one, you can use somewhat less (around 8 cups instead of 9).

If you have part of a panettone leftover and you need to fill the recipe out, you can fill out the remainder with an enriched, eggy bread like challah.  If you do this, you'll need to bear two things in mind: 1) you'll need to up the sugar a bit to make up for the lack of sweetness, and 2) you'll need to use more raisins and/or candied fruits.  You could completely substitute the panettone for bread in this fashion, but then of course you'd just be making normal bread pudding.  Nothing wrong with that of course - it's a great bread pudding recipe with lots of warm holiday spices and boozy, rum-soaked goodness.

Because this panettone bread pudding leans heavily into the warm/wintry spices, rum, and dried fruits, I highly recommend using a 'classic' panettone flavoured with candied citrus and raisins/currants.  You could also use a plain panettone without the added fruits, then add a bit more of the dried fruits of your choice.

That being said, panettone comes in a pretty wide assortment of flavour variations these days, and there's no reason you couldn't play around with the spices and other flavours to create a bread pudding variation.  For example, leaning into the cinnamon and adding some cocoa powder to the mix would probably work nicely with some of the chocolate panettones I've seen floating around.  Hazelnuts wouldn't be out of place either.  You could also ease up on the spices and add citrus zest and more candied citrus to play on the limoncello panettones.  Similarly, you could switch up the alcohol used in the creme anglaise to compliment these variations too.  I'd be inclined to try whisky with chocolate, and limoncello or Cointreau with citrus flavours.  If you've been gifted a flavoured panettone and you want to experiment, I say go for it - but do remember to taste test the cake for sweetness before you get too far into the process.  Sweeter panettone variations need to be balanced out by using less sugar with the eggs and milk.

Alright, I know that raisins and other dried fruits aren't always a source of joy for many of you.  I get it.  Give me a chocolate chip cookie over an oatmeal raisin cookie any day.  But I strongly encourage you to embrace the dried fruits in this panettone bread pudding for a couple of key reasons.

First, the raisins and currants (which, annoyingly, are a type of grape and not a true currant) taste great with the spices, while the candied citrus adds lovely little pops of sweetness and brightness.  Secondly, and arguably more importantly, dried fruits rehydrate when you mix them with liquid ingredients, which means that they act like little sponges for the sweet rum-and-spice flavours we're going for here.  If you're picturing dry, chewy raisins, you're going to be very pleasantly surprised.

If you're still on the fence about raisins, you can add less than what I've called for here, but I really would encourage you to give them a chance.  It's also worth noting that there are some pretty marked differences between good and cheap (i.e. bad) candied citrus fruits.  Good candied citrus is incredible, and if you have access to some, it definitely wouldn't hurt to add a little extra in your panettone bread pudding.

Finally, there's no reason you couldn't explore other dried fruits - especially if you're experimenting with panettone flavours (see previous section).  Cranberries would be lovely, and dried sour cherries would be incredible with a chocolaty base.  Have fun with it.

Crème anglaise (French for "English cream") is a type of basic custard, usually flavoured with vanilla, and often left a little more runny so that it will pour easily. You can vary how thin or thick your crème anglaise is simply by cooking it for a shorter or longer time. Do note that it will thicken as it cools, so don't go solely by the way it looks while it's still warm in the pot or double-boiler.

This crème anglaise recipe is distinctive thanks to the deliciously distinctive inclusion of rum (for variations on this theme, see below).  Otherwise, it's pretty much a straightforward and classic crème anglaise, so if you have any experience making custard you'll find it quite familiar.

You could also explore other types of custard to top this dessert off.  If you want to take things back in a more Italian direction, zabaglione would be a great idea.

A lot of people get put off by making custards thanks to the less-than-everyday methods and tools used, but there are actually a lot more options out there than you might think.

Double-boiling custard is the best way to make sure that it cooks evenly without scorching, but you don't need a dedicated double-boiler.  I mean, I don't even have one, and this is my job. Instead, I just float a small pot inside of a larger pot filled with hot water.  The small pot I use has a handle that I can rest on the larger pot's edge.  This holds everything steady and makes it difficult for the lip of the smaller pot to dip below the surface of the water.  But as long as you're careful you could use something like a small metal bowl too.  Whatever you use, just take care to avoid splashing any of the hot water into your custard and you'll be good to go.

When it comes time to temper the eggs, I like to use an immersion blender and appropriately small container.  By adding the hot cream to the eggs slowly and running the immersion blender, you achieve a nice temper without any exhausting whisking (or any bits of cooked egg).  If you've ever made your own mayonnaise with an immersion blender, the process is very similar.  No immersion blender? No worries - you'll just need to make sure you're ready to do some whisking while you pour.  A lot of whisking + slow pouring = happy cook.  If you're worried that you'll mess up, make it a two-person job, with one pouring and the other whisking.

Finally, if you have a high-speed blender (e.g. Vitamix or Ninja), you can also try making blender custard.  I've done this on the site a number of times, and you can find instructions for variations here and here.  The basic idea is simple enough - the blades spin so fast that they create friction, which creates heat, which cooks the eggs.  The eggs don't scramble, however, because they're being constantly whipped and mixed with the other ingredients by the blender.  You could easily adapt the crème anglaise for a high-speed blender, though I will note that it's a bit harder to control the consistency.  Thicker crème anglaise is going to be easier to achieve than a thinner one, so keep that in mind.

This is my recipe, so of course I'm going to say I like it... but seriously, I adore the way that rum flavours both the panettone bread pudding and the crème anglaise.  It was, for me, the perfect little flavour kicker to really bring everything together.

But hey, that doesn't mean that you can't experiment! Bourbon (or another whiskey), port, sherry, brandy, and marsala would all work nicely and can be substituted at the same quantities in both the crème anglaise and the panettone bread pudding itself.

The recipe card below also includes a few notes about omitting alcohol entirely from both parts of the recipe, but do note that some flavour extracts (e.g rum) also contain some alcohol.  If you want to avoid the alcohol entirely for any reason, be sure to read your ingredients.