Let’s Gel, Panna Cotta and Strawberries Three Ways

February 28, 2011 at 2:59 pm | Posted in Cookies, Daring Bakers, Dessert, Fruit, Jams/Jellies, Puddings/Custards | 68 Comments
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First I want to start by saying that I’m officially making this a very late Valentine’s Day post. I didn’t have one this year, so since this dessert is all red and pink and soft and creamy, it’s ideal. Let’ pretend, ‘Ooohh, hearts, love, kisses!’. Now onto the challenge.

Ahh…the things you can do with a few gelatin leaves or gelatin powder are endless.  You can turn just about anything with liquid into a gelatin meal or dessert. – not that you’d want to, but you could!  Jellied grits, jellied marinara sauce (thoughts of aspic..oh, yum!), jellied liquid laundry detergent, jellied…oh wait, let’s make it sound tastier.  Grits GELEE (trill the L), marinara sauce GELEE..laundry detergent GELEE, milk GELEE, cream GELEE – the latter two actually refer to what this month’s host of the Daring Bakers is challenging us to make this month.  Milk and cream GELEE or Milk GELEE,. or just cream GELEE.

The actual name for this luscious dessert is Panna Cotta (meaning –  cooked cream.  It’s an eggless cream and/or milk custard stabilized with gelatin).  Eighty-six the laundry detergent and Grits  GELEE – panna cotta is cream GELEE (I’ve also been known to call it JELLO cream) a good GELEE, as long as it isn’t too GELEE’D.

Phew, wasn’t that annoying?  I’m sure you can tell I’m in the midst of sort of a writer’s block.

Speaking of ‘too GELEE’D’ did any of you see the season of Top Chef where Marisa, a pastry chef, which is a rarity and a hinderance on Top Chef, was so pumped and thrilled when she was able to finally make a dessert?  She huffed and puffed, bragged about how she had this one in the bag etc.   The dessert she had to make was, you guessed it, panna cotta!  Now, I’m not a professionally trained pastry chef, but panna cotta is pretty simple to make, so I would have been chuffed too.

Welllll..if you saw it, you know what happened – she botched the panna cotta – it was hard and rubbery.  She claimed it turned out fine, but when challenged via the obvious, a spoonful by each judge, she blamed everything/one but herself.  Maybe it was the gelatin or temperature of the kitchen OR the planets had not aligned in a way that turns out creamy, soft panna cotta..every excuse in the book.

I digress, I couldn’t help referring to that moment since it always pops in my head at the mention of panna cotta.  I actually saw her on a Food Network cake, sculpture, whatever..challenge, and she botched that too.  However, I think she’ll always be known as the rubbery panna cotta girl.  Well..at least she got her 15 and then some.

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 De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

I tried Giada’s panna cotta recipe before, and felt it was too sweet, so I decided to take a direction I’ve been DYING to take for months, especially ever since I saw THIS.  I love it, I think it looks awesome, and I love the fact that you prepare a fruit three ways along with a tangy (could be buttermilk, yogurt or creme fraiche) panna cotta.  Perfection, and I get to play!  I’ve been looking for an excuse to tackle this for some time now, and here it is!

Here’s the kicker, it did not originate from Evan, although she’s pretty amazing, isn’t she?  She got the idea from HERE, another gifted pastry goddess who in turn got some of her original idea from HERE.  That’s three amazingly talented and creative ladies I’m going to copy.  Yeah…kind of funny, isn’t it?  Sometimes I look at these blogs in complete awe and think ‘Why am I even blogging and photographing food?’  GIve me the towel so I can throw it in!!  Oh, wait, it’s something I enjoy!  Chill.

In any event, I was so excited to make these, I even ordered 24 carat edible gold leaf.  It’s usually pretty pricey, unless you hit ebay and catch an auction from another country, which I did.  I ended up getting 10 small sheets of edible gold leaf from Thailand for less than half the price I would have paid in the US.  When my father, who happened to stop by, saw the scruffy, international airmail envelope it was sent in – he said “Umm..I wouldn’t open this, it could be anthrax, it looks fishy to me”.  I explained it was gold leaf, but he still maintained it could be anthrax and what a perfect way to disseminate it throughout the US, via gold leaf via ebay.  Ok, I’m stopping now.

I didn’t have any cool, square verrine glasses, just plastic, rectangular 4 oz cups.  I poured in way too much panna cotta, ruining the cool sorta’  ‘mosaic’ thing they got going on.  But, you know what?  Loved making it, loved how it tasted.  It was like excavating and depositing a huge heap of soft, creamy, jelly, saucy, tangy strawberry patch on the tastebuds – (yep, took the fresh strawberry route in lieu of mango, outside the panna cotta – gelee, mousse, coulis and more gelee – a strawberries and cream gelatin sundae) so all in all, I was incredibly happy with the final result.

The corkscrew cookie on the napkin is a cocoa – black sesame florentine.  Unfortunately, that was the only one left to photograph.  I preferred the macadamia anyway.

I forgot to mention, I kicked up the strawbeerry mousse with a little heat.  Little meaning that I used one ground Tepin pepper.  A Tepin  chile pepper is the cutest, little pink pepper I’ve ever seen.  It’s about the size of half a pinky nail.  Don’t be deceived, this is one of the hottest peppers in the world.  Last year, Marx foods sent me some samples of the hottest, dried chile peppers known to man.  Well, I had a choice…mild, medium or hot,hot, hot.  Of course I had to go all the way – wanting to find ways to incorporate these dried peppers into dishes, where they wouldn’t kill you.  I found just one wittle, ground tepin pepper in the cool, fluffy mousse, which when combined with the cool gelee and smooth and creamy panna cotta, makes it the perfect bite of heat.  No pain, no eyes watering, no premature passing, just  – WOW – a good wow.

We were also asked to bake a cookie.  I suppose a cookie was integrated because there’s not one facet of panna cotta that’s baked.  I loved the idea because it provides another texture to my creamy, moussey, GELEE mouthful.  The hostess asked us to make Florentine cookies.  I decided to nix the oats for finely chopped macadamia nuts, decrease the flour to achieve a more delicate, lacey look, and increase the corn syrup (light in lieu of dark), decreasing the granulated sugar to help that along.

Ooops, I suppose it’s not a Florentine cookie any longer, is it?

A Florentine is simply a heartier, less delicate cousin to the lace cookie, so I’m keeping it in the family, right?  I sandwiched them with a white chocolate – strawberry ganache, but be warned, if not eaten almost immediately, the ganache turns the florentine cookies to mush!  Found out the hard way when I picked up the stack of the filled cookies after they had sat for a few hours. The stack literally disintegrated in my fingers  – plopping to the floor with thud.  It’s definitely the cream in the ganache.  Kind of conjured up zombie eats.

Now, it’s time to give a huge shout out to my friend, Audax, who converted this recipe to US measurements for me.  He is amazing – he covered every little corner.  Aud, you are the best!

Finally, since this is strawberry based.. every component, except the panna cotta, contains strawberry puree.  Below is a base recipe for strawberry puree which I got from The Joy of Baking.  I reduced the sugar in it.

Strawberry Puree
1 20 ounce bag (570 grams) of frozen unsweetened strawberries or 20 ounces of fresh strawberries
2 Tablespoons to 1/4 cup (25 to 50 grams) granulated white sugar, or to taste
Freshly squeezed lemon juice, optional

DIRECTIONS:
1. Place the unsweetened frozen strawberries in a large bowl and thaw. Once thawed, put the strawberries and their juice in the bowl of a food processor or blender and process the berries until they are pureed. If you want it completely seedles, crank through a foodmill or push through a fine wire mesh strainer.

2. Pour the puree into a 2 cup measuring cup. You should have about 1 1/4 cups of puree. Add 2 tablespoons of the sugar to start and stir until the sugar dissolves. Taste and add more sugar if needed. Add a little lemon juice to taste.

3. If not using immediately, store covered in the refrigerator for one week. The puree can also be frozen for several months.

Strawberry and Panna Cotta Verrines
Recipe from Evan’s KItxhen Ramblings via L’ Atelier Vi


Vanilla Bean Yogurt or Creme Fraiche Panna Cotta

3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon (200ml) (200 gm) (7 oz) heavy cream
3 tablespoons + 1 3/4 teaspoon (55 ml) (45 gm) (1.6  oz) sugar
1 vanilla bean, split & scraped
3g (0.1 oz) sheet gelatin OR 1 teaspoon powdered gelatin
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon (100 ml) (100 gm) (3 1/2 oz) plain yogurt or creme fraiche

Strawberry Gelee with Diced Strawberry
1 cup minus 1 tablespoon (225 ml) (150g) (5⅓ oz) fresh strawberries, diced
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon (100 ml) (100g) (3½ oz) strawberry puree
2 tablespoons (30 ml) (25g) (0.9 oz) sugar
2g (0.07 oz) sheet gelatine OR ½ teaspoon + 2 dashes powdered gelatin

Strawberry Mousse
1 cup minus 1 tablespoon (225 ml) (150g) (5.3 oz) strawberry puree
3 1/2 teaspoons (17 1/2 ml) (15g) (1/2 oz) sugar
3.5g (0.125 oz) sheet gelatine OR 1 teaspoon powdered gelatin
1/2 cup (120 ml) (120g) (4 1/4 oz) whipping cream
1 tepin pepper, ground (optional)

Strawberry Coulis
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon (100 ml) (100g) (3 1/2 oz) strawberry puree
4 3/4 teaspoons (23 3/4 ml) (20g) (0.7 oz) sugar

FOR THE PANNA COTTA:
1. In a small saucepan, cook the heavy cream, sugar and vanilla bean until it comes to a boil. In the meantime, soak the gelatin in ice water. When the cream has come to a boil, remove the pan from the heat and add the softened gelatin. Whisk to dissolve it. Sift into a clean bowl, discard solids, and let it cool to about body temperature. Add the yogurt and whisk well.

2. Pour the panna cotta into glasses or cups (I used THESE) to about 1/3 of the height and let it set in the refrigerator, about 2 hours.

FOR THE STRAWBERRY GELEE WITH DICED STRAWBERRIES:
1. Warm half of the strawberry puree with the sugar in a medium saucepan over low heat. Soak the sheet or powdered gelatine in ice water. Remove saucepan from heat once sugar completely dissolved.

2. Add the softened gelatin to the warm strawberry puree. Add the rest of the puree and diced strawberries and mix well. Let it cool to room temperature then spoon the mixture on top of the chilled yogurt panna cotta to about 2/3 of the height of the glasses/cups. Let it set in the refrigerator, about 30 minutes to 1 hour.

FOR THE STRAWBERRY MOUSSE:
1. Warm half of the strawberry purée with the sugar in a medium saucepan over low heat. Soak the gelatin in ice water. Remove the saucepan from heat and add the softened gelatin to the warm puree and stir until completely dissolved. Add the rest of the puree; stir to combine then let it cool to room temperature.

2. In a mixing bowl, whisk the heavy cream until soft peaks then using a rubber spatula, fold the whipped cream into the puree base until fully incorporated (no more white streak). Pour this mousse on top of the strawberry gelee, smooth it out using the back of a spoon and let it set in the refrigerator, about 1 hour

FOR THE STRAWBERRY COULIS:
1. Warm half of the strawberry puree with the sugar in a medium saucepan over low heat. Remove saucepan from heat once sugar is completely dissolved. Add the rest of the puree; stir to combine then let it cool to room temperature. Pour it on top of the strawberry mousse layers, swirl the cup until it covers the mousse completely.

2. Top verrines with whole or diced strawberries, a florentine or lace cookie, and gold leaf, if you have on hand.

White Chocolate – Strawberry Ganache
3/4 cup chopped white chocolate
2 tablespoons strawberry puree
1/2 cup heavy cream

DIRECTIONS:
1.  Place white chocolate in a bowl, then bring the heavy cream and strawberry puree to a boil over medium heat.

2.  Pour the boiled cream – strawberry puree mixture over the chopped white chocolate and let it sit for a minute.  Stir until smooth and uniform then refrigerate, covered, until of a spreadable consistency.  If you’d like, you can chill it, then whip it, to make a white chocolate – strawberry cream, which is also quite nice as a filling for these cookies.

NOTE – If using this ganache to fill the cookies, the cookies must be eaten quickly.  The ganache turns the delicate cookie to mush in a short time.  Plain melted chocolate is a better option if you want them to keep.

To get the recipes for the florentine cookies and the challenge panna cotta, click HERE.  To see all the gorgeous panna cottas by other Daring Bakers, click on the links to their blog, HERE.


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  1. Once again you have outdone yourself. Your desserts look delicious and your photos are stunning. Well done please tell me where I can taste your food?

  2. I’m just running out of compliments and wow words to describe your creations each month! I love the layered components, but just didn’t have the energy to be that creative this month. Your addition of petrin pepper is very intriguing, and much more daring than my basil. Fabulous work, darling 😉 and a belated Happy Valentine’s Day.

  3. Amazingly done, beautifully photographed, and always fun to read. I never would have thought to add hot pepper to panna cotta, but it sounds so intriguing! And macadamia nuts for the florentines sounds delicious!! Man, what I wouldn’t give to live next door and be your taste-tester… 🙂 Love your work, as always. 🙂

  4. What a fantastic take on the recipes! I really love your panna cotta. So delightful. So fresh.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

  5. Wow, your panna cotta verrines are the picture of perfection! Beautiful! And the Florentines look so delicate, I love the adaptations you made. However, I am perplexed: I also used ganache to sandwich my cookies, and it was a disaster, the cookies, which were crunchy and crisp to begin with, turned all mushy overnight. I thought it was because of the ganache, but you pulled it off… *tilts head*

  6. BRAVA! You did an amazing job! I wasn’t too happy with my result, done too fast and the florentine cookies didn’t work at all.

  7. Stunning! The strawberries 3 ways is just fantastic. It looks great and I can imagine it tasted great too. Nice on Lisa!

    Really love the decadent bit of gold leaf 😀 This dessert really is something elegant so forking out for some gold leaf is so worth it.

    Stunning presentation overall 🙂 You rocked this challenge!

  8. So creative and gorgeous!! I would love to have a bite of one of those, great job on the challenge.

  9. Had so much fun reading your post. I’m impressed with your Panna Cotta, it looks professional! Macadamia Florentines sound delicious and the hottest pepper on earth in a Panna Cotta was DARING!!! What a wonderful job you did this month! Hats off to you!

  10. That sounds like strawberry heaven. Absolutely exquisite! Love the addition of pepper too. I can’t stop imagining how good it must have tasted.

    The anthrax bit made me laugh. 🙂

  11. Wow!! Your version of panna cotta looks so pretty! I’m getting intrigued by the kick of the tepin chili that you put in there. Strawberries and chili are both aphrodisiac food and are perfect for valentine 🙂

  12. Good gawd, woman, that is fantabulous. But, really, no one comes here expecting anything less. Beeeeautiful.

  13. Really beautiful layers!! The cookies were so fun looking. I love the glasses you presented them in. I could see how creamy and dreamy your panna cotta was. Yummmmm!

  14. Wow looks fabulous.. absolutely love it.. beautiful pictures.

    Pavithra
    http://www.dishesfrommykitchen.com

  15. So gorgeous, really a work of art!

  16. Never, never, never question why you do this! What you do is always amazing and wonderful and most of all inspires mediocre ones like me!This pannacotta and the florentines are brilliant!

  17. That looks so amazing that I can almost taste the strawberries and cream! Wonderful stuff, and glad to hear there was no anthrax, flu or major catastrophes involved this time around.
    🙂

  18. Wow! I would love to be in your kitchen…I could learn so much. Your posts are always inspiration for my further attempts. Thanks!

  19. Your panna cottas are like little works of art! So beautiful and perfect. You did a fantastic job on the challenge. Thank you for sharing. 🙂

  20. The world record for the most number of times the word “gelee” is used in a blog goes to… 😛

    The use of chili, especially with a strawberry dessert, was interesting. Would certainly be a WOW surprise if you weren’t expecting it 🙂

  21. This looks amazing!! I have never tried panna cotta before, it looks delicious!

  22. Absolutely stunning!!! Fantastic job!

  23. I absolutely LOVE Panna Cotta so why oh why did you make me start thinking of laundrey detergent panna cotta? Well, I got the point and now I can see that the possibilities are endless! But your gorgeous, stunning panna cotta have me dreaming and in utter awe! Now I must go back to the drawing board and try something just as fabulous and sexy! Wow you do outdo yourself (or outdo ME?) every time. Just gorgeous. Now you have me totally inspired! Yay! So, when did you say you were coming to visit?

  24. Gorgeous job on this challenge! Thanks for posting the pic on how you got the design. I was wondering how you guys did it =)

  25. after a long hiatus from your blog (all of my own doing)…I return to find you featuring my favorite dessert. Your pictures are so vivid I can almost taste the creamy wonderfulness. Can’t wait to try this recipe.

  26. Lisa, this is so cute and pretty, love the way you made the lines…and strawberries are just great in this panna cotta. Absolutely perfect! Great pictures as always!

  27. Wow! Absolutely stunning! And they sound delicious as well. What a cool idea to add some spice with those tiny peppers. Very cool.

  28. I actually think I would be happy just to drink your strawberry puree:) Your overhead shot of the partially eaten panna cotta looks amazing! Oh, I just want to dive in and try it. Love the geometric design too. Your florentines look about as thin as they can be without crumbling…you just have the knack! Too bad they got mushy because they sure look pretty with the pink strawberry ganache:) Bravo, Lisa!

  29. Wow, wow, wow, laundry detergent, Tepin, Marissa, gold leaves….I am dizzy but what great enthusiasm in your post…which totally translated into buth challenges. Everything looks so amazing!

  30. Astounding masterpieces each and every photograph is breathtaking I cannot believe how astonishing your magnificent creations are for this challenge you have outdone yourself on this. The wait was well worth it for sure. All I can say is bravo bravo bravo to you.

    Yours Audax.

  31. Lisa, you always go the extra mile. They look gorgeous! (And those blogs you mentioned, okaaaay, where’s my towel? ;P) I had a little chuckle about your dad, it sounds like exactly something my mother would say. Again, hats off to you for another fabulous, fabulous challenge.

  32. Gorgeous! As always, you take things to the next level. Great flavors and beautiful presentation.

  33. Lisa , u have totally outdone ur self truly !
    ANd beautifully so , i loveee checking out all ur DB posts coz they are supremely creative and stunning too!
    happy sunshine my fren!

  34. You’ve certainly been inspired by the challenge. The combination of colors and textures in your glasses is fantastic. Beautiful job!

  35. O that looks so awesome Lisa! Wow… I totally love pannacotta… Really really do and I’ve been making it countless times with my favorite being one with buttermilk (less creamy and a little ‘fresher’… That said; how can you possibly mess up a pannacotta when you’re supposed to be on Topchef??? It must be one of the easiest of desserts out there! I do love your mosaic thingie which does not seem to be ruined at all… And I didn’t even notice the cups where plastic either… 🙂

  36. Lisa I knew you’d produce an absolute beauty and you have! Absolutely so gorgeous, this would look right at home on a high end restaurant table or in a beautiful shop window! 😀

  37. you are truly an artist, what an incredible dessert!!! You should be working at a 5 star restaurant making your creations!!
    Hope all is well in your world my friend
    Dennis

  38. This is probably the most beautiful thing I’ve seen accomplished with strawberries … ever! Absolutely gorgeous!

  39. Lisa, you’ve done it again! Don’t you dare throw in the towel with blogging!! I really enjoy reading your posts, especially the DB ones. You may not be trained but your dessert looks gorgeous, very professional.

  40. Wow, your Panna Cotta is absolutely amazing. They are one of the prettiest desserts I have seen in quite a while. They are almost too pretty to eat, almost……sorry, but there is no way I could keep myself from dipping in a spoon and tasting these.

  41. HOw do you always make everything look so beautiful??? THese remind of some of the beautiful deserts I saw in Paris @ Fauchon in their amazing displays. You really are up there with the best of them daaaaaahling. Now hand one over here!
    *kisses* HH

  42. Very nice!! Looks delicious too!

  43. You win!!! This is the prettiest of all the Daring Bakers’ entries this month…beautiful!!!

  44. Yum! Those looks so beautiful, elegant and delicious!

  45. Very cool mosaic, definitely not ruined. If you hadn’t told they were plastic cups I never would have know. In fact I was thinking I need some cool cups like that. Gorgeous!

  46. ¡Mejor tarde que nunca!
    I am happy you added this dessert. Is simply marvellous and time for strawberries is very close.
    Thanks a lot.

  47. I can’t believe how delicious your panna cotta looks, the pictures look mouthwatering! I would love to try some of this!

  48. They look fantastic! So professional.

  49. OMG! This is the coolest post I’ve seen all week! WOW!!!!!

  50. I can’t believe those are plastic cups. The first thing I said to myself when I looked at the photo was “love the glasses”. I guess I’m a cheap date! Anyway, your layers are fabulous and love that you used hot pepper with the strawberries. Beautiful job!
    Best- Sandie

  51. Lisa Michele!
    I have missed your posts… you are getting a little too infrequent, don’t you think? But, I understand. You put your heart and soul in each one. I looked at all the others (thank you for the into to 2 lovely blogs I didn’t know about) and YOURS IS by FAR the best and most pretty. Panna cotta is NOT that easy. I KNOW it should be. Why doesn’t it work for me????
    I have book marked this post and will try it again… and then maybe much latter tackle the dishsoap gelee!!!
    🙂
    Valerie

  52. Strawberry… swoon, gelee. Like so much better than laundry detergent gelee… You crack me up. Make it French sounding and it must be good. Ew, thoughts of aspic, gag me with a spoon. Ewww!

    Now your gelee…. awesome, it looks divine.You always rock girl!

  53. This is such a gorgeous dessert! I love strawberries, and I want to dig into all of these layers. The gold leaf is a lovely touch too. Beautiful job with the challenge!

  54. Awesome! I love creative plating. Great work.

  55. First of all, your photographs are beautiful.
    Further: You’re panna cotta is amazing! Beautifully arranged, great colors, just great layering!
    Your florentine cookies look very special. Extremely thin! They must have been very crispy, yummy :)!
    I definitely will do the florentine cookies again.

    Greetings, Lea

  56. Although, I’m really not a panna cotta fan…I just had to come and visit you. I knew you were going to blow this challenge out of the water like you always do.
    Lisa, you are a true ‘Foodie’ gem ;o)
    Everything looks so precious.

    Ciao for now,
    Claudia

  57. wow that looks absolutely fantastic! Great job!

  58. Hi Lisa, Will you please tell me where I can find the plastic square containers you used for your panna cotta. I already have thought of several uses for them, I just need to know where to get them.
    Thank you,
    Sara

  59. Great recipe and that look fresh strawberries so I seem to want as soon as possible to make it. Thanks for share.

    farida
    http://kitchensuperfood.com

  60. […] Recipe Adapted From Lisa Michele  […]

  61. […] Recipe Adapted From Lisa Michele  […]

  62. WHERE do you get those adorable cups from??????????

    • Hi, Stacey..I bought them here http://www.apartysource.com/4osqplshcup1.html

      —————————————-

      Also, there is another place that sells them and I’m hosting a giveaway for a $50.00 coupon code to use there..next week. Keep checking back!

  63. […] in my muffin tin. The strawberry topping was a take on Lisa’s recipe from her post here. I wanted mine to ‘gel’ more but reduced the amounts of sugar significantly in this […]

  64. Just wondering what the yield for this recipe is. Looks so yummy!

    • Hi, leora..it entirely depends on the size glasses or plastic cups you use and the amount of each ingredient poured into each cup. I once made two 16 ounce verrines, but have also made four 8 ounce verrines, 6 four ounce verrines, and eight 2 ounce ‘amuse bouche’ sizes. It’s sort of like those colored sand sculptures..your own ‘artistic’ creativity and license with the layers will determine the amounts in the end. I know…this one is not an ‘exact’. 🙂


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