I’m a savory breakfast person. Biscuits, bacon, eggs, hash browns…that’s my jam. My husband (and children) love sweet breakfasts…pastries, pancakes, waffles, french toast.
Being the selfless mom and wife that I am, I have learned to compromise. When we do big breakfasts on the weekends, or for dinner, there is eggs, and bacon, and then usually something sweet.
I hate cleaning my waffle maker, so I usually go for pancakes or french toast. However, after tweaking and getting solid recipes for both down, I got a bit bored. I’m constantly changing food I make, or doing different twists. Pumpkin pancakes got made a bunch this fall, and now for the Christmas season, I’m rocking out panettone french toast.
Panettone is a traditional Italian sweet bread served around Christmas and New Year. It’s similar texture to brioche, with raisins and candied orange peel. And it make delicious french toast.
If the idea of raisins and orange peel in your french toast freaks you out a bit, feel free to use this recipe to make just plain old french toast. Brioche and Challah bread make the best french toast, in my opinion, but french bread is always good too. Or you could get a little crazy and try cranberry walnut bread.
A few notes on the recipe: a loaf of panettone is big. My crew couldn’t eat it all, and they eat a LOT. I saved leftovers (we did breakfast for dinner) and popped them in the toaster for breakfast the next morning. You could also just use half the loaf and freeze the other half for a later use.
I also served mine with lightly whipped cream (I find on things like this the hard whipped cream can be awkward to eat). Not much of a recipe, other than I put about 1/3 cup cream in a small mason jar, a dash of vanilla a bit of agave, and a touch of bourbon. Then I shook for several minutes while I was flipping french toast.) Also, you may end up needing some extra egg mixture, depending on how absorbent your bread is. Just 1/2 the recipe (2 eggs is fine) to finish up the leftover bread.
Panettone French Toast:
-1 loaf of panettone
-1 1/2 cup half and half + (see note above)
-5 eggs + (see note above)
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-pinch of salt
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
-butter, for pan
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Heat griddle on stovetop to medium. Slice panettone. Whisk together half and half, eggs, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla. Butter the griddle. Take one slice of bread and dip into egg mixture being sure to get both sides, but not letting it soak too long. Place egg soaked bread on griddle. When lightly browned on one side, flip. When both sides are cooked, place french toast on an oven proof plate to stay warm in the oven while you finish up the remainder. Butter griddle in between each piece of bread.
