Merry Christmas, everyone! This is a dessert I whipped up for my family's Christmas Eve celebration, based off a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis. (I'll confess I had my doubts about her when I first saw her on the Food Network– she's so thin and cheery– but I've come to love her. I squealed with joy when I unwrapped a copy of Everyday Italian this morning). The original recipe is simply espresso panna cotta, which I'm sure would work just fine, but coffee and chocolate are a match made in heaven as far as I'm concerned. Hence, I tweaked it a bit.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup whole milk
1 and 1/2 tsp powdered gelatin
1 and 1/2 cups heavy cream
3 heaping tsp instant espresso powder
1 tsp cocoa powder
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
Preparation:
1. Pour the milk into a saucepan and sprikle the gelatin over it. Let sit for about 5 minutes so the gelatin softens.
2. Stir over medium heat until the gelatin dissolves. Do not let the milk boil!
3. Add the cream, espresso powder, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt. Stir over low heat until the dry ingredients dissolve.
4. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly, then pour into glasses/cups/molds (any of these would work, it's purely a presentation choice).
5. Cover and refrigerate, stirring about every 20 minutes for the first hour to keep cocoa and espresso evenly distributed.
6. Chill for at least 6 hours and up to two days before serving. (I chilled mine overnight).
There's a lot of ways to play with this recipe– I served them with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkle of cocoa powder, but you might also want to try chocolate curls or a drizzled mocha sauce. You can tweak the espresso/cocoa ratio of the panna cotta itself to your liking; the given amounts produced just a subtle, smooth hint of chocolate that I thought worked very well. If you're planning to serve with a chocolate sauce, definitely don't go heavier than this, or you'll overpower the espresso.
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