A Little Panna Cotta

Hi everyone, are you all up for a panna cotta challenge? 

Don't be scared! This panna cotta is super easy to make and delicious too. I am not a very good baker or dessert maker. I have a black thumb (is there such a thing?) when it comes to making desserts. Everything I have baked or attempted to make has been a giant flop, sometimes literally. So I was a little apprehensive about making this panna cotta for a very special anniversary dinner. I didn't want to poison my guy with a pool of raw eggs in chocolate or something (something i almost did when i attempted to make chocolate mousse). So I figured the panna cotta would sound fancy and extra special, yet be easier (and fool proof) to make than most desserts. I once again, relied on my trusty La Tartine Gourmande cookbook for the recipe.

Here are the ingredients

Makes 4 individual cups

For the strawberry toping:

• 1 pound 3.5 oz (550 g) strawberries
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup blond cane sugar

For the panna cotta:

• 4 cups half and half
• 1/2 cup blond cane sugar
• 2 vanilla beans, split open and seeds scraped out
• 6 cardamom pods, crushed
• 1 1/4 tsp of gelatin powder

Directions:

For the strawberry toping

Combine all ingredients in a pot and let stew for 4 to 5 minutes, until the fruit softens. Let cool. Note that you might have leftovers, perfectly delicious eaten to top yogurt.

I placed some at the bottom of clear plastic cups and let them cool in there while i made the panna cotta

For the panna cotta:

• In a pot, combine the half and half, vanilla seeds and bean, cardamom pods and sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook for 4 minutes. Stop the heat, cover and let infuse for 20 minutes. Strain vanilla bean and cardamom pods.
• Mix the gelatin powder to the half and half mixture until it completely dissolves.
• Fill small glasses with the panna cotta preparation and let cool. Cover each glass with plastic wrap and place the glasses in the fridge for a few hours, or overnight, until the panna cotta sets. Once ready to serve, add the stewed berries (to taste) on top.

I topped my panna cotta with another scoop of the strawberry sauce and some crushed pistachios. The plastic cups were great for this dessert and a great alternative if you don't have little glass jars to make this in. The flavors were very light and delicious. I really like the taste of vanilla and cardamom together. 

It is important that you use unflavored gelatin so it doesn't clash with the flavor of the panna cotta mixture. If you think your panna cotta is still too watery or not hardening quite right, you can add a little more gelatin mixture to the cups and stir. I did that for one of them and it still turned out fine. The panna cotta isn't going to be as solid as jello, it will have a little creaminess to it. so don't worry if it doesn't look like jello... it isn't supposed to! 

This was a huge hit with the boyfriend, it wasn't too sweet for him and it wasn't too heavy either. Perfect dessert for a special dinner with my guy or dinner party with friends! I hope you all like it!

xoxo