Last week, when I was prepping for our annual Christmas party and making batches of eggnog, Phil came up with the idea of soaking panettone slices in eggnog and then frying it up as French toast. Mmmmm, I think my cerebellum fused just thinking about the sheer awesomeness of that.

Panettone is one amongst many nice things about December! I wasn’t a stranger to the concept of Christmas bread since I lived in Switzerland as a child, but when we moved to Milano, I really got into panettone. It’s lighter than the British Christmas pudding and IMO, way tastier.

Taken from their Wikipedia page:

Panettone is a type of sweet bread loaf originally from Milan (in Milanese dialect of the Lombard language it is called paneton /paneˈtuŋ/), usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas and New Year in Italy, southeastern France, Spain, Brazil, Venezuela, Peru, Malta, Albania, Germany and Switzerland, and is one of the symbols of the city of Milan.

The German equivalent is the Stollen or Weihnachtstollen… The description from Wikipedia:

Stollen is a fruit bread containing dried fruit and often covered with powdered sugar or icing sugar. The bread is usually made with chopped candied fruit and/or dried fruit, nuts and spices.

The Dutch version, which the parents-in-law always serve in their home around December as part of breakfast or an afternoon snack, is called Kerststol. It’s very similar to the German version, except that it’s filled with a log of almond paste, before the dough is folded in half and the loaf shaped and baked. I love almond paste but the centre bites get very intense, so when I get my slice of Kerststol, I like to spread the almond paste from the middle to all over the slice. Not sure what my in-laws think every time I do this, but in any case, they are too polite to mention it.

In any case, panettone and the Austrian Weihnachtzopf is better suited for making French toast due to the lighter dough. The German Stollen, Dutch Kerststol and the British Christmas pudding are all too heavy and wouldn’t soak up the eggnog to make great French toast. Also, I’d add some bacon slices  to the mix otherwise the panettone-eggnog French toast, along with candied ginger and maple syrup will be too sweet for my liking.

Phil will put up the recipe on his blog soon enough, but in the meantime, here are some photos I took of our panettone-eggnog French toast adventure. They came out quite dramatic, with a bit of 16th century old masters painting aesthetic about them. Hope you like the pics!

Minggu lalu, ketika saya sedang menyiapkan pesta Natal tahunan kami, dan membuat berliter-liter eggnog, teman saya, si Phil, tiba-tiba punya gagasan untuk mencelup irisan panettone ke dalam eggnog, dan menggorengnya sehingga menjadi semacam French toast. Saya sampe ngiler-ngiler sendiri deh, mikirin betapa enaknya French toast kami itu nanti.

Panettone memang salah satu hal baik tentang bulan Desember, secara cuaca semakin mendingin dan hari-hari semakin menggelap  di tengah-tengah winter. Karena saya dulu dibesarkan di Swiss, saya sudah terbiasa dengan konsep kue dan roti Natal di Eropa. Ketika kami pindah ke Milan, saya sempet tergila-gila dengan panettone, yang dilidah saya lebih enak dibandingkan dengan roti Natal Inggris yang kadar rumnya maha tinggi (jadi suka pahit kuenya).

Diambil dari Wikipedia, panettone adalah “Panettone adalah semacam kue khas Milan, Italia, yang biasa disediakan dan disantap pada Natal, dan merupakan salah satu lambang kota Milan.Ia mempunyai bentuk kubah dan tingginya biasanya sekitar 30 cm. Ia dibuat dari adonan yang lembut dan setengah matang yang berisi permen dan kismis. Panettone umumnya dipotong dan dihidangkan bersama minuman panas yang manis atau anggur yang manis seperti spumante atau moscato.”

Ada juga versi Jerman yaitu Stollen, yang lebih “berat” dibandingkan panettone. Karena Stollen ini adonannya lebih berat, jadi ngga oke untuk dijadiin French toast. Untuk French toast, sebaiknya menggunakan tipe roti atau kue yang dapat menyerap cairan eggnog. Untuk saya, masakan ini terlalu manis, jadi saya tambah bacon untuk mengimbangi rasa manisnya, dengan potongan jahe untuk menambah “lapisan rasa”.

Well, kayanya Phil akan pasang resep si panettone-eggnog French toast ini di blognya, jadi rajin-rajin aja cek kesitu. Sementara itu, ini hasilan styling dan jepretan saya minggu lalu, dimana hasilnya dramatis seperti lukisan-lukisan old masters Eropa di abad ke-16. Enjoy!

A 1-2 person-sized panettone in its beautiful packaging.

A whole panettone loaf.

Best to use eggnog and panettone that are a few days old.

Can serve the toast with just maple syrup.

Or with maple syrup and candied ginger.

My version of Phil’s idea: eggnog Weihnachtzopf French Toast with Bacon. Very naughty, but very nice.