Baked Panettone French Toast

This recipe stems from our family being gifted many panettones throughout the years and never eating one of them. It's not that we don't like them, it's that we just never remember to eat them! This year, when Ivy came home holding a panettone that she had been given, Eve was determined to put it to good use. We both tasted the delightfully spiced and sweet bread spiked with almonds and candied oranges and raisins and knew it would make a delicious baked french toast. This recipe is the perfect breakfast for Christmas morning or one of the lazy days between Christmas and New Year since you make everything ahead of time. The chocolate sauce and orange syrup work equally well with the panettone flavors. Ivy likes hers with both poured on hers!

Tip: This breakfast is decadent enough to be served as a dessert. If so, just call it a "bread pudding"! 

xxx Ivy & Eve

Makes 4 large portions or 6 smaller portions.

Ingredients:

French Toast

• 1 panettone (around 1 pound)

• 5 eggs

• 1 1/4 cups milk or half and half

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1 pinch nutmeg

• I pinch cinnamon

• 1 pinch of salt

Topping

• 1/4 cup slivered almonds

• 4 tbsp brown sugar

• 1 pinch nutmeg

• 1 pinch cinnamon

Orange syrup

• 4 tbsp melted butter

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• Zest from 1 orange

• 2-3 tbsp orange juice from the zested orange

• 1.5 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate sauce

• 1 cup chopped dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips

• 3/4 cup half and half or milk

• 1 pinch salt

Directions:

To make the french toast:

1. Grease a 9x9 glass dish or baking pan. 

2. Cut the panettone into roughly 1-inch cubes. 

3. Toss the cubes into the baking dish.

4. Add the milk, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt to a large mixing bowl. Whisk. 

5. Pour the eggy mixture over the cubes, gently fold the unsoaked bread under the soaked, making sure each cube is wet. 

6. Cover and keep in the fridge overnight (or at least 4 hours).

To make the topping:

• Mix the slivered almonds, brown sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

• Cover and keep until you bake the french toast. 

To make the orange syrup:

1. Melt the butter. 

2. Measure out the powdered sugar into a large bowl.

3. Add the melted butter, 2 tbsp orange juice, orange zest, and vanilla.

4. Whisk until smooth. If it is too thin, add more powdered sugar. If it is too thick, add a little more juice. If you have a hard time getting the syrup smooth, microwave it for 5 seconds and whisk again. 

5. Serve immediately or cover and keep refrigerated until serving. Then warm it in the microwave until it is a syrup consistency again. 

To make the chocolate sauce:

1. Add the chocolate and 3/4 cup of the half and half (or milk) to a small saucepan on low heat. 

2. Gently whisk periodically until chocolate is melted.  

3. If the sauce is too thick to pour, add a little more half and half. 

4. Serve immediately or let cool and refrigerate until serving, then microwave 15 seconds at a time, stirring between, until warmed and smooth. 

When ready to bake: 

1. Preheat your oven to 350F. 

2. Sprinkle the topping over the dish.

3. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the eggy mixture is set and has a lovely golden top.

4. Serve with melted butter, orange syrup, and chocolate sauce.

5. Enjoy!

Panettone with chocolate sauce

Panettone with orange syrup

Baked Pumpkin French Toast

This is one of our favorite cool-weather breakfasts. It is SUPER easy to make and perfect for breakfasts with guests or holiday mornings since you make everything ahead of time and keep it in the fridge overnight. The next morning, just preheat the oven to 350F, add the topping, pop the dish in, and head back to bed to lounge while it bakes! 

xxx Ivy & Eve

Some notes on this recipe: 

• We don't sweeten the french toast before baking because everyone has their own sweetness preferences. 

• We use those soft and fluffy "French bread" loaves you get at regular grocery stores, not real French bread loaves. These loaves are easy to find anywhere and are more porous to soak up the eggy mixture easily. We also love how the top bakes to a crispy crunch that works perfectly with the fluffy, moist center. 

• This recipe makes great leftovers. We usually make this for Sunday morning and reheat the leftovers for tasty weekday breakfasts! 

Ingredients:

French Toast

• 5 1/2- 7 1/2 cups cubed French bread (about 1 large loaf)

• 8 eggs

• 2 1/2 cups milk or half and half

• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not canned pumpkin pie), which is about 1/2 can

• 2 tsp pumpkin spice

• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

• 1 pinch of salt

Topping

• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

• 6 tsp brown sugar

• 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice

Pumpkin syrup

• 4 tbsp melted butter

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• 2 tbsp milk

• 1.5 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tbsp canned pumpkin puree (not canned pumpkin pie)

• 1 pinch pumpkin spice

Directions:

To make the french toast:

1. Grease a 9x13 glass dish or baking pan. 

2. Slice the bread into around 1.5-inch slices; then tear the slices into irregular cubes. 

3. Toss the cubes into the baking dish.

4. In a large mixing bowl, add the milk, eggs, pumpkin puree, pumpkin spice, vanilla, and salt. Mix. 

5. Pour the eggy mixture over the cubes, gently fold the unsoaked bread under the soaked, making sure each cube is wet. 

6. Cover and keep in the fridge overnight (or at least 4 hours).

To make the topping:

1. Mix the chopped pecans, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice.

2. Cover and keep until you bake the french toast. 

To make the pumpkin syrup:

1. Melt the butter. 

2. Measure out the powdered sugar into a large bowl.

3. Add the melted butter, milk, vanilla, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin spice.

4. Whisk until smooth. If it is too thin, add more powdered sugar. If it is too thick, add a little more milk. If you have a hard time getting the syrup smooth, microwave it for 5 seconds and whisk again. 

5. Serve immediately or cover and keep refrigerated until serving. Then warm it in the microwave until it is a syrup consistency again. 

When ready to bake: 

1. Preheat your oven to 350F. 

2. Sprinkle the topping over the dish.

3. Bake 35-45 minutes, or until the eggy mixture is set and it has a lovely golden top.

4. Serve with melted butter, maple syrup, and pumpkin syrup.

5. Enjoy!

The Perfect Cream Tea (Clotted Cream & Scone Recipe)

There are few things in this world Ivy loves more than a good cream tea. She even has a framed print on her wall (see below) that says, "I love you more than cream tea and scones"...and most days she doesn't know if that's a true statement! Can she truly love anything more than cream tea and scones?

Cream tea is really simple. Cream tea consists of clotted cream, scones, a bit of jam, and hot tea. Both the scones and the clotted cream take relatively no effort (but they do require a bit of planning). It's the perfect way to enjoy your tea-time without the expense and overindulgence of traditional afternoon tea. We really enjoy ordering cream tea when we visit England.

For quite some years, we went about life here in the U.S. without cream tea and only survived by planning our future visits to England. But times changed, and our hunger for cream tea went savage. We needed cream tea and we needed it NOW! So we decided to try and make it ourselves. Now that we have learned how to make cream tea we don't know why we went so many years without!

Clotted Cream

Ingredients:

• 1-quart heavy whipping cream (not ultrapasteurized, but it can be pasteurized)
• A low baking dish (best to be long and wide so the cream is about an 1 1/2 thick when poured in)

Directions:

Clotted cream is crazy simple. All you have to do is turn your oven to the lowest setting we set ours to 150F. Then you pour the cream into the baking dish and put it in the oven for 12 hours (we put ours in at night so in the morning we can take it out). After 12 hours remove the dish from the oven and let it cool. Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator. We leave ours in the pan until the following morning when we plan to have our cream tea. When you are ready to serve, skim the thick creamy top off of the watery bottom (looks like skim milk) and place the clotted cream in a bowl or jar. This only keeps for a few days so eat up! Keep refrigerated. 

Vanilla Bean Scones

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1-ounce butter, chopped
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 vanilla bean (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425F. 
2. Combine flour and sugar in a bowl. Using your fingers rub in butter until it is lightly mixed.
3.  In a separate bowl add milk and water and scrape vanilla bean seeds into the mixture. Discard the bean shell. Add milk mixture to flour mixture.
4. Using a butter knife, mix to create a soft, sticky dough. Flour surface and knead dough until smooth.
5. Roll out gently to 1 1/2 inch thick. Cut out circles with cookie cutter or the top of a plastic cup.
6. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Lightly brush milk on the tops of the scones and sprinkle with sugar. 
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until tops of scones start to turn golden.
8. Serve scones with clotted cream, jam, and a pot of tea.

Enjoy!

xxx Ivy & Eve

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