12 Days of Christmas Treats: Eggnog-Panettone Bread Pudding

Editor’s Note: Welcome to the 2013 edition of The 12 Days of Christmas Sweets! Every day from now until Christmas, we’ll bring you a new, scrumptious recipe for a holiday cookie, cake, or other dessert treat. Whether you leave them out for Santa or simply sample them all yourself is up to you, we just encourage you to try them all! Leave your comments below each recipe and upload a photo if you make your own batch at home. Season’s Eatings!

by Amy Johnson, Managing Editor, HockeyPub.com

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Eggnog is such a quintessential holiday beverage.  A creamy, cool, thick, spicy concoction that becomes the most delicious custard when you use it in baked bread dishes like french toast or bread pudding.  Change up the bread to something festive like panetonne (an Italian dessert bread) or, in today’s recipe, a holiday cranberry-orange bread and you’ve got something really special.  This is an elegant and impressive dessert to make for a dinner party, and the individual pudding cups make it so easy to serve your guests!

Eggnog-Panettone Bread Pudding
Recipe Courtesy: Rachael Ray, FoodNetwork.com

Prep/Cook Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients:
1 loaf panettone, available in Italian specialty stores, cut in half (enough for about 5 cups, diced) – you can also use any holiday bread like the cranberry-orange bread I’ve used in our photos below
3 whole eggs
3 egg yolks
3/4 cups sugar
2 cups half-and-half
1/4 cup rum (dark rum or spiced rum works best)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Vegetable cooking spray

Optional accompaniments:
Vanilla ice cream
Whipped cream

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. Place a tea-kettle of water on to boil for a water bath.

2. With a serrated knife, remove the side crusts from the half piece of the panettone. Cut into 3/4 to 1-inch dice. Reserve the cubed panettone in a large mixing bowl.

3. For the eggnog custard, in another bowl thoroughly whisk together the eggs, yolks, sugar, half and half, rum, vanilla extract, and a healthy grating of fresh nutmeg.

4. Pour this over the bread cubes.

5. Spray a 12 hole muffin tin with vegetable cooking spray. Ladle the bread/eggnog mixture gently and evenly into the muffin tins.

6. Place the filled muffin tin in a tall sided cookie sheet or roasting pan. Transfer to the preheated oven and carefully pour the hot water from kettle onto sheet pan, creating a water bath for the muffin tin to sit in.

7. Bake 15 to 20 minutes until the tops are nicely browned, and a toothpick comes clean from the center.  Bread pudding may be served warm or cold. Vanilla Ice cream or whipped cream would be great accompaniments.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for our next holiday recipe – Cherry-Pineapple Upside Down Cake! And if you missed any of our previous recipes in this series, take a moment to check them out below:

Day 1 – Apple Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Day 2 – White Chocolate Cranberry Macadamia Cookies
Day 3 – Apricot Rugelach
Day 4 – Hot Cocoa Cake

Photo credits: Amy Johnson

Tags: baking, bread, christmas, cranberry, eggnog, featured, holiday, panettone, pudding, recipes, treats