With Christmas Day 2012 winding down, I will keep this post short and sweet. I made this indulgent panettone chocolate bread pudding for Christmas Eve and just had to share the recipe. While I am not a fan of panettone that has the candied fruits in it (I know I know, what kind of Italian am I?), I really do enjoy eating it without the candied fruit or in this case with chunks of chocolate. Panettone is the perfect base for a bread pudding because of its brioche style flavor and texture. It transforms into a rich and creamy chock full of warm melted chocolate goodness.
I made a few adjustments to the original recipe that I recently found in the food section of the San Francisco Chronicle. Because I used a chocolate panettone, I omitted the 1/8 cup of cocoa nibs and added a bit more chopped bittersweet chocolate. I also decreased the amount of sugar by 1/2 cup and added an extra tablespoon of amaretto. If you don’t have a vanilla bean, a tablespoon of vanilla extract will work just fine, too.
Hoping your holidays were filled with lots of love and laughter!
- 1 pound chocolate panettone, cut into 1-inch cubes
- ¼ cup coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate
- 8 large eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1¾ cups heavy whipping cream
- 1¾ cups whole milk
- Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean
- 4 tablespoons amaretto
- Pinch of kosher salt
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Spread out the panettone cubes on a sheet pan and toast for about 10 minutes until lightly golden brown. Transfer the cubes to a 9- by 13-inch baking dish, and sprinkle with the chocolate.
- Whisk together the eggs, sugar, cream, milk, vanilla, amaretto and salt in a large bowl; pour over the panettone, pressing the bread down into the custard mixture as needed to make sure the pieces are well coated. Cover and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours. Remove the baking pan from the refrigerator and let sit for 15-20 minutes to take off the chill. Bring a kettle of water to a boil. Place the baking dish in a larger pan and pour in enough water to come about halfway up the sides of the dish.
- Bake for about 50 minutes, or until the center of the pudding is just set and a knife comes out clean. Serve warm.
How hilarious, we are the same Italians, lol. I can’t stand that candied fruit that was in everything. I’d much prefer to have your chocolate bread pudding. Wishing you and your family Happy New Years!
-Gina-
Happy New Year to you, too! Candied fruit is such an old-school Italian thing
-Lisa-
Hi Lisa, just curious because I’m not that familiar with WP, do you have a home page, one that shows your url? Thanks.
Just beautiful! My sweet sister adores bread pudding, so I’ll have to make her some of this. Thank you for sharing…what a nice way to end my weekend (and get ready for dessert!) I hope you have a wonderful week!
Thanks for stopping by! Bread pudding is so indulgent but well worth every bite. Have a great week!