Name: Panettone French Toast
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: American Homestyle
Ingredients: 8 slices Bauducco Panettone with candied fruits and Sun-Made raisins, crust removed all around and cut approximately 1/2 inch thick; 1 cup plus a couple tablespoons milk; 3 eggs; 1/8 cup Cointreau; 1 tablespoon sugar; 3 tablespoons butter, plus more as needed; 1 tablespoon maple syrup, drizzled per two slices; good pinch 10x confectioners sugar, per two slices

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Panettone French Toast

I’ve had a sort of love affair with Panettone going many years back now to when my friend Frani began gifting Tommy dePaolo books to my kids, one of which is “Tony’s Bread.” The airy bread like cake with candied fruits and raisins, appearing in the shape of an over-sized, upside down, clay flower pot.

And for these many years as the octagon shaped box packaging of the wrapped Panettone begins appearing on the holiday shelves at the markets I always purchase one for me, and others for friends that I include with varying assorted treats and spirits as house gifts upon holiday parties.

Now in Tony’s Bread, Angelo, the wealthy nobleman from Milano falls in love with Tony’s daughter, Serafina, the young woman who cries in her window and eats too much dolci on account of loneliness, as up to that point no man has yet been considered good enough by the widower, Tony the baker.

That is, until Angelo sets in motion the sweet scheme for claiming his bride by appealing to the dream of Tony to be the best baker in all of Milano.

Of course, when Tony arrives in Milano and see’s the amazing talent among the bakeries and pastry shops he momentarily becomes discouraged, until Serafina and Angelo inspire Tony a creation of ” the richest, lightest, most wonderful bread anyone has ever tasted- out of the whitest flour, the biggest eggs, the creamiest milk, the sweetest candied fruit and the plumpest raisins.” And then….

Smart and charming romancer that Angelo is. Isn’t he? The flags were flying, the crowds were cheering, “pan di Tonio-Tony’s bread.” This as Angelo the wealthy nobleman from Milan, and Serafina, from just outside the grand city of Milan were married in the chapel nearby.

With the weekend blizzard on these east coast parts at hand, 30 inches of snow in my neck of the woods, it rather provided the opportunity for a leisurely breakfast, and with some Panettone on hand, I remembered my friend, Debbie from Texas, sharing with me on New Year’s Day that she prepared Panettone French Toast with her extras which of course, is a splendid idea.

As the snow piled up, it also provided the opportunity to enjoy one of my favorite books of all time, “Tony’s Bread,” gifted to my kids by my friend Frani so many years ago, and causing me a love affair with that light and airy bread like cake appearing as an over-sized, upside down, clay flower pot, filled with candied fruits and the plumpest raisins, then plated up with a sweet little romantic story, French Toast Panettone.