by Faith Durand

Panna Cotta: Pure Heaven and So Easy to Make Recipe

Panna cotta may just be the perfect dessert: It's easy, quick, practically foolproof and accommodating to many dietary adjustments, being naturally gluten-free and adaptable to dairy-free and vegan diets.

It also happens to be luscious and perfectly creamy, in a way that belies its utter simplicity. Below, I'll walk you through making panna cotta, step by step. People think it's some laborious restaurant dessert involving cheesecloth and a chinois, but it's actually easier than making Jello out of a box.

But there I go again about how easy this is. Let's get back to how it tastes, shall we?

It's a very basic pudding that is made of dairy thickened with gelatin. It originated in Italy and its name literally means "cooked cream," since the earliest versions were made of thick cream, sometimes thickened with fish bones.

You can eat it straight out of a cup, but it's often unmolded onto a plate and drizzled with sweet sauce and garnished with fruit. A bite of panna cotta is remarkably creamy, melting in the mouth without a trace of grittiness or lumps.

This tutorial will teach you how to make the most basic vanilla panna cotta, flavored with vanilla extract and a pinch of salt. You only need a few ingredients (milk, cream, gelatin, flavorings). I often don't even use milk and cream but half and half (see my note on that below). The goal with panna cotta is to calibrate the amount of gelatin to the dairy and its fat so that you achieve a firm set that is still delicate and wobbly.

As with any other elemental recipe, you could argue for days over the pieces. You might like your panna cotta a touch sweeter, or with less fat in it.

This recipe is my own idea of a very good basic panna cotta. It's not too fatty, and not too sweet, but still rich. I included a touch of extra gelatin to make it extra-foolproof, and so that you can unmold it onto a plate. But it shouldn't be rubbery -- it's wobbly and velvety smooth.

For this recipe you should use plain, unflavored gelatin, which is usually found in the grocery store aisle with the baking supplies and Jello. I use granulated gelatin, which is the most common form of gelatin in the U.S. (as opposed to gelatin sheets).

What if you don't eat gelatin? Gelatin is an animal product and not vegetarian. You can substitute agar agar or another vegetarian gelatin substitute. I don't give precise substitutions because if you're using a vegetarian gelatin you may also be switching up the milk and cream for an alternative dairy, and I haven't tested the permutations of agar agar with soy, coconut or almond milk, or in all the various combinations.

Now, shall we make some pudding? This is a lot of conversation for what ends up being about 5 minutes at the stove -- it's so easy! Oops there I go again. Let's get started!

[ Related: Panna Cotta with Ricotta & Orange Marmalade | Panna Cotta with Cointreau & Strawberries ]

Pure Heaven Panna Cotta Recipe

    Prep Time: 15 minutes

    Cook time: 5 minutes

    Yield: Serves 6

Pure Heaven Panna Cotta Ingredients

    Cooking spray

    1 1/2 cups whole milk (see Ingredient Notes)

    3 teaspoons powdered gelatin

    1/3 cup sugar

    1 1/2 cups light or heavy cream

    1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

    Pinch salt

Pure Heaven Panna Cotta Recipe Instructions

    Lightly grease 6 ramekins: Spray the ramekins with cooking spray, then use a paper towel to wipe out most of the oil, leaving only a light residue.

    Bloom the gelatin:

    Pour the milk into the saucepan and sprinkle the powdered gelatin evenly over top. Let soften for 5 minutes or until the surface of the milk is wrinkled and the gelatin grains look wet and slightly dissolved.

    Dissolve the gelatin over low heat:

    Set the saucepan over low heat and warm the milk gently, stirring or whisking frequently. The milk should never boil or simmer; if you see steam remove the pot from the stove and let it cool down. The milk should get hot, but not so hot that you can't leave your finger in the pot for a few seconds. The gelatin will dissolve quickly as the milk warms; it melts at body temperature so this step should go quickly.

    Check to make sure the gelatin is dissolved:

    After about 2 minutes of warming, rub a bit of the milk between your fingers to make sure it's smooth. Or dip a spoon in the milk and check the back for distinct grains of gelatin.

    Dissolve the sugar: Stir the sugar into the milk and continue warming until it dissolves as well. It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes total to dissolve both the gelatin and sugar. Again, never let the mixture boil.

    Remove the saucepan from the heat. Whisk in the cream, vanilla, and a pinch of salt.

    Divide the mixture evenly between the prepared ramekins and put in the refrigerator to chill. If serving straight from the cups, without unmolding, chill for 1 to 2 hours. If you want to unmold the panna cotta, chill for at least 4 hours or overnight.

    Prepare to unmold: Fill a large bowl partway with warm to hot water. Wipe a dessert plate with a damp paper towel (a damp plate lets you reposition the panna cotta more easily if it doesn't fall in the right spot).

    Release the panna cotta edge from the cup: Run a thin knife carefully around the sides of a ramekin. Don't slide the knife all the way into the cup; just release the top edge of the pudding from the edge of the cup. Dip the ramekin in the warm water up to its rim, and hold it there for about 3 seconds.

    Invert the ramekin over the plate and shake gently to help the panna cotta fall out, or press gently on one side to help nudge it out. It should fall out on the plate easily. (If it does not, return to the warm water bath in increments of 2 seconds.) Reposition on the plate if desired. Serve immediately, or refrigerate, lightly covered, for up to 5 days. The gelatin gets stronger as it sits, so this will be a bit rubbery by days 4 or 5, but you can mitigate this by letting the panna cotta sit at room temperature for about half an hour before serving.

Pure Heaven Panna Cotta Recipe Notes

    I usually prefer to use half and half as a base for panna cotta, instead of milk and cream, because the milk and cream in half and half has been homogenized. This means that the panna cotta won't separate into layers of lighter and heavier fat levels, as often happens when using milk and cream.

    However, you can use any combination of milk, cream, coconut milk, soy milk, almond milk -- really any creamy liquid -- to make panna cotta. But the less fat in the panna cotta, the softer it will be. A panna cotta made with all soy milk, for instance, will set very softly. I wouldn't recommend trying to unmold it unless the proportion of gelatin was increased.

    If you want to play with the flavors, try scraping a vanilla bean into the warmed milk, instead of using extract. Or add lemon or almond extracts, or stir in a handful of chopped chocolate at the very end for a stracciatella effect. You can substitute espresso or pureed fruit for some of the milk. Just a few ideas -- the possibilities are endless!

Troubleshooting Panna Cotta

    My panna cotta is still liquid! Perhaps the gelatin didn't melt all the way, or you accidentally boiled the mixture. (Boiling destroys gelatin's thickening power.) It may also have not set long enough.

    My panna cotta has two layers! See my note above about milk and cream. If you are using non-homogenized milk, as I did in this tutorial, this is especially likely to happen. I don't find that it really affects the eating experience, but to reliably avoid this, use half and half instead of milk and cream.

Panna Cotta Serving Suggestions

    Panna cotta is such an easy dessert to make, and finishing it off can be very simple too. Here are a few ways I like to serve it.

    - Garnish with fresh fruit.

    - Drizzle with chocolate or caramel sauce.

    - Warm some raspberry or strawberry jam and drizzle over top.

    - Sprinkle chopped nuts or grated chocolate on top.

    - Dollop a spoonful of store-bought lemon curd on the pudding.

[ Related: Panna Cotta with Ricotta & Orange Marmalade | Panna Cotta with Cointreau & Strawberries ]

Panna Cotta, Italian Dessert

 

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