The February 2011 Daring Bakers' Challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada DeLaurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.
I decided to make two different kinds of panna cotta. I started with a chocolate panna cotta layered with a coffee gelee to create a yummy mocha dessert. My plan was to make them in some fluted individual molds and then turn them out to serve. That didn't work out because the gelee layer wasn't sturdy enough to stand up to being dumped out. Instead we just had to eat them out of the less than beautiful molds...but that didn't hurt the taste any.
I liked the flavor combination but I didn't think the chocolate panna cotta was quite as smooth in texture as the vanilla was; maybe because I used a cheap chocolate instead of buying the good stuff.
The second version I made was a vanilla panna cotta with a blueberry gelee. I got smart and just put them in some pretty little clear dishes instead of trying to unmold them.
The vanilla panna cotta was DELICIOUS! It was completely smooth and creamy and WONDEDRFUL. I added real vanilla bean to mine to give it an even richer vanilla taste. The blueberry gelee was ok but it didn't really add anything besides color to the ultra super yummy vanilla panna cotta.
I will definitely be making panna cotta again. It was very easy and took very little time to prepare....aside from all of the time needed for chilling the layers.
The Nestle Florentine cookies were good too, nothing special, but good. They were also very easy to make and tasted particularily good with the mocha pnna cotta dish.
Here are the recipes we used for our challenge for those of you who would like to try it for yourselves.
Nestle Florentine CookiesIngredients:
2/3 cup (160 ml) (150 gm) (5.3 oz) unsalted butter
2 cups (480 ml) (160 gm) (5 2/3 oz) quick oats
1 cup (240 ml) (230 gm) (8 oz) granulated sugar
2/3 cup (160 ml) (95 gm) (3⅓ oz) plain (all purpose) flour
1/4 cup (60 ml) dark corn syrup
1/4 cup (60 ml) whole milk
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1½ cups (360 ml) (250 gm) (9 oz) dark or milk chocolate
Directions:
Preheat oven to moderately hot 375°F (190°C) (gas mark 5). Prepare your baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper.
1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan, then remove from the heat.
2. To the melted butter add oats, sugar, flour, corn syrup, milk, vanilla, and salt. Mix well. Drop a tablespoon full, three inches (75 mm) apart, onto your prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly with the back of your tablespoon, or use a spatula.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 6-8 minutes, until cookies are golden brown. Cool completely on the baking sheets.
4. While the cookies are cooling melt your chocolate until smooth either in the microwave (1 1/2 minutes), or stovetop (in a double boiler, or a bowl that fits atop a saucepan filled with a bit of water, being sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl).
6.Spread a tablespoon of chocolate on the bottom/flat side of your cookie, sandwiching another (flat end) cookie atop the chocolate.
This recipe will make about 2 1/2 - 3 dozen sandwiched Florentine cookies. You can also choose not to sandwich yours, in which case, drizzle the tops with chocolate (over your wax paper).
Chocolate Panna CottaRecipe adapted from Bon Appetit
Ingredients:
1 cup (240 ml) whole milk
1 tablespoon (15 ml) (7 gm) (¼ oz) unflavored powdered gelatin
2 cups (480 ml) whipping cream (30+% butterfat)
½ cup (115 gm) (4 oz) sugar
¾ cup (145 gm)(5 oz) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
½ teaspoon (2½ ml) vanilla extract
Directions:
1. Pour milk into a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over the top, set aside for 2-5 minutes.
2. Place a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir in cream, sugar and vanilla. Bring to a low boil.
3. Add chocolate and whisk until melted. Whisk the milk/gelatin mixture into chocolate cream mixture. Whisk until gelatin has dissolved.
4. Transfer to ramekins, or nice glasses for serving.
5. Cover and chill at least 8 hours, or overnight
Coffee GeléeAdapted from a recipe in Gourmet Magazine
Ingredients:
2 cups (480 ml) good quality brewed coffee
1/4 cup (60 ml) hot water + 2 tablespoons (30 ml) cold water
1/2 cup (120 ml) (115 gm) (4 oz) granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons (7½ ml) (3½ gm) (1/8 oz) unflavored powdered gelatin
2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract
Directions:
1.Place granulated sugar and 1/4 c. hot water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stir until the sugar has dissolved.
2.Sprinkle gelatin over 2 Tablespoons cold water and let it soften 2 minutes or so.
3.Stir the coffee, sugar, hot water, and vanilla into a small metal bowl, add gelatin mixture and stir well until gelatin has dissolved. If pouring over Panna Cotta, be sure that this mixture is no longer hot, it will melt Panna Cotta if it is, let it come to room temperature.
Vanilla Panna Cotta
Ingredients
1 cup (240 ml) whole milk
1 tablespoon (one packet) (15 ml) (7 gm) (¼ oz) unflavored powdered gelatin
3 cups (720 ml) whipping cream (30+% butterfat)
1/3 cup (80 ml) honey
1 tablespoon (15 ml) (15 gm) (½ oz) granulated sugar
pinch of salt
*I added 1 inch of vanilla bean.
Directions:
1. Pour the milk into a bowl or pot and sprinkle gelatin evenly and thinly over the milk (make sure the bowl/pot is cold by placing the bowl/pot in the refrigerator for a few minutes before you start making the Panna Cotta). Let stand for 5 minutes to soften the gelatin.
2. Pour the milk into the saucepan/pot and place over medium heat on the stove. Heat this mixture until it is hot, but not boiling, about five minutes. (I whisk it a few times at this stage. If you let it boil it will develop a very unattractive skin on top as it cools. You don't want that.).
3. Next, add the cream, honey, sugar, and pinch of salt. Making sure the mixture doesn't boil, continue to heat and stir occasionally until the sugar and honey have dissolved 5-7 minutes.
4. Remove from heat, allow it to sit for a few minutes to cool slightly. Then pour into the glass or ramekin.
5. Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight. Add garnishes and serve.
Fruit GeléeRecipe by Mallory
Ingredients:
1 cup (240 ml) (230 gm) (8 oz) fruit (strawberries, raspberries, mango, blackberry, etc.)
3 tablespoons (45 ml) water
1/4 cup (60 ml) (60 gm) (2 oz) granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons (7½ ml) (3½ gm) (1/8 oz) unflavored powdered gelatin
Directions:
1.Sprinkle gelatin over water.
2.Place fruit and sugar in a small saucepan and simmer until sugar has dissolved. Now mix the gelatin into the strawberry mixture and stir until gelatin has dissolved.
3.Remove from heat and allow to cool (close to room temp, again, if you're planning on layering on pouring on top of your Panna Cotta, a hot mixture will also heat up your chilled Panna Cotta).
As always you can see pics of all of the panna cotta variations at
The Daring Kitchen.
All you need are some washers from the hardware store, scrapbooking paper, fine grit sandpaper, Mod Podge, cord, beads (optional) and a dimensional glue.
The pink and orange one is just cotton with hidden seams but the blue one is made from leftover t-shirts, and since its knit I left the seams exposed.
I used a laser cut scrapbooking design as a stencil for the design on the outside of the sponge. Unfortunately it was so subtle that it didn't translate very well on the outside of the dessert. Next time I think I will pipe a more definite design.
