Light and creamy panna cotta flavored with lovely vanilla beans are perfectly portioned into small glasses. Elegant enough for a nice dinner party, but simple enough for everyday occasions. These panna cotta are a blank canvas for lightly sweetened whipped cream, fresh berries, chocolate sauce, or a drizzle of honey and sea salt. However, they shine beautifully on their own with flecks of vanilla bean.
- Easy
- 20 mins
- 8 servings
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cup whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 envelope gelatin
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 vanilla bean
- ½ cup whipped cream (optional)
- 1 tbsp powdered sugar (optional)
Uses
Directions
- Place 2 ¼ cup whole milk, cream, and sugar, into a medium-sized saucepot. Stir with a silicone spatula to combine. Place the eight 4-5 oz glasses (we used 4.8 oz glasses in this recipe) into a cake pan. The cake pan will help to transfer the panna cotta to the fridge without the mixture sloshing on the sides.
- Combine the remaining ¼ cup whole milk and the packet of gelatin in a small bowl, stir it together. Set this mixture aside to allow the gelatin to soften.
- Heat the whole milk, cream, and sugar mixture over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. You will not need to bring the mixture to a boil (a simmer at most).
- Pour ¼ cup of the hot cream mixture over the gelatin mixture and stir well to dissolve the gelatin. Pour the gelatin mixture back into the cream mixture and stir gently with a whisk. Add in the scraped vanilla bean from the pod. Be careful not to make too many bubbles.
- Pour the panna cotta mixture between the eight glasses. Cover the tops of the glasses and around the cake pan tightly with plastic wrap and allow them to chill overnight. Serve cold the next day.
- To make the whipped cream combine the powdered sugar and cream in a medium bowl. Beat until stiff peaks form. You can do this by hand or in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Dollop each panna cotta with sweetened whipped cream.
Tip
- To make a creamier, denser panna cotta, use this ratio: 1 ¼ cup whole milk and 2 cups cream.
- Placing glasses into a cake pan before adding the liquid panna cotta helps transfer them to the refrigerator. The cake pan will prevent the mixture from sloshing on the sides. The result will be a prettier looking glass with clean edges.
- Cover the tops of the panna cotta tightly with plastic wrap. The plastic wrap should stick to the tops of the glasses to ensure a tight seal. The tight seal will prevent skin from forming on top of the panna cotta.
- Note: this recipe was prepared for Rodelle by Amanda at @frommetovuu.