Eggnog Panettone French Toast

Apparently, fruit cake, stollen and panettone are the ugly stepsisters of Christmas cakes and breads. I personally have never been a fan of them. I used to always turned my nose up to them.

But I love dried fruits and nuts. It has always been those candied bits of radioactive-colored red and green icky "fruit" bits I detest which prevented me from enjoying these festive bread and cakes.

Fortunately, we are in luck! Many of these traditional breads and cakes have grown out of their squeeky-pubescent voices modernized and bakeries and food companies leave the candied fruits out and fill them with all sorts of delicious alternatives. My friend brought over a panettone from the Italian Centre which had a creamy hazelnut filling and was coated with a thin-layer of milk chocolate. I know, I know! Cut me another slice will you? Quick!

Recently though, I mistakenly picked up a panettone with those gag-causing candied fruits. Now I was in a bind since none of us wanted to slice it up and eat it. I had to come up with something since I don't like to waste food and I wasn't going to even contemplate picking out each one of those lil' suckers.

And this is where I save Christmas Panettone from a life as a dumpster diver. Eggnog French Toast using Panettone!

The eggnog is a sweet infusion to the panettone french toast and it really masks those vile candied fruits. Now, I don't want to lie, you can faintly taste them but as a sweet complement to the overall dish. They don't stand out like Susan Boyle at my kid's screeching Christmas concerts.

Add some delicious cinnamon-spiced maple syrup or rum-flavored whipping cream and it's almost non-existent. It's even better than a partridge in a pear tree, though personally, I would trade it in for the 5 golden rings.

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Eggnog Panettone French Toast
serves 4

4 large eggs
1/2 - 3/4 cup eggnog, your preference on how thinned out you want the mixture.
4 - 1 inch thick slices panettone, cut crosswise
Butter or vegetable oil for pan-frying.

Whisk together the eggs in a large shallow dish. Add the eggnog and mix thoroughly.

Heat up a pan with either butter or oil over medium-low heat. Dip each side of the bread into the egg-eggnog mixture to coat. Fry each side for about 2 minutes until golden brown. Repeat with the remainder of panettone slices.

Serve immediately with maple syrup, whipped cream or your choice of toppings or accompaniments.