Baked Panettone French Toast with Apples and Cranberries

We were the lucky recipients of a lovely Panettone sent to us by some friends of my husbands from Milan. This is  sweet bread loaf originally from Milan and is one of the symbols of the city of Milan.It is considered a Christmas staple and has a cupola shape. It takes a long process to make as the proofing process itself takes several days. Traditionally it also has candied orange, citron, dry raisins (not soaked) and lemon zest.  So as party of two I needed to get creative with using it as it weighs over 2 lb of bread! This recipe comes from the Whole Food website. We enjoyed it a lot and plan to use the other half to make a bread pudding. Sorry the picture doesn't do it justice

• 6 tablespoons butter, melted, divided
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 tablespoon water
• 4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins ( I used fresh cranberries as that was all I had on hand)
• 6 (1-inch-thick) slices panettone (about 1 pound), halved
• 2 cups milk
• 6 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
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• In a small bowl, whisk together 4 tablespoons butter, sugar and water until well combined. Spread mixture over the bottom of a 9- x 13-inch baking dish and set aside. 
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Heat remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add apples and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer apples and their juices to the reserved baking dish and spread out evenly over the sugar mixture. Scatter cranberries over apples.

Arrange panettone over the top, overlapping the slices as needed. Set aside to let apples cool slightly. 

In a large bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, vanilla and cinnamon then pour over panettone, being sure to coat all slices. Cover and chill overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Uncover baking dish and bake until just cooked through, puffed and golden brown, about 40 minutes. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool slightly before serving.