0 Creamy Not Dreamy

I've always been on the fence about panna cotta. I've eaten both sweet and savory panna cottas quite a few times, but only when it's part of a restaurant's tasting menu or as an amuse bouche. My most recent one was a savory cauliflower panna cotta with caviar. I would never actually order panna cotta if I had a choice. It's not something I gravitate towards. And I'm not a fan Giada de Laurentis and the Food Network either, but they came together for this month's Daring Bakers' challenge.

Hostess Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen asked us to make Giada's panna cotta from the Food Network website. And since making the panna cotta didn’t involve any baking, Mallory randomly threw in a cookie recipe for us to try too. I really wanted to skip this month, but I felt that I should participate since I had the time and both recipes were pretty easy.

Panna cotta is an eggless custard. The most basic sweet version is cream and milk cooked with some kind of sweetener (like sugar or honey) and then some gelatin is added to stiffen it up. If you plan to serve the panna cotta in a cup or goblet, then you can get away with less gelatin. If you want to unmold the panna cotta onto a plate and expect it to somewhat hold its shape, then a tad more is needed. But panna cotta should never be stiff enough to "wiggle and jiggle" like Jell-O.

I desperately wanted to like this month's panna cotta. I tried to stack the deck in the panna cotta's favor by using some great ingredients - Tahitian vanilla bean, orange blossom honey, Strauss Family Creamery heavy cream and milk. I plated my panna cotta with a sauce I made with bitter orange marmalade and homemade citrus simple syrup (that I had left over from making candied citrus peels). The sauce went really well with the sweet, creamy panna cotta. Sadly I was not converted. It was a waste of good ingredients. My panna cotta turned out very smooth and creamy, but I guess I just don't like panna cotta. Now I finally know what side of the fence I am firmly planted.


chocolate glazed oatmeal florentine cookie sitting next to the panna cotta

I liked that the florentine cookie recipe that Mallory chose for us was a simple one bowl recipe that came together quickly. And even though the cookies were not really in line with my own personal preferences, I will most likely make the cookies again in the future. The florentine cookie tasted fine on its own, but I thought it was a strange addition to the panna cotta. They did not pair well together at all.

Can you tell that I was not excited about this month's challenge? I know, I know. That's not the Daring Bakers' spirit that I should be exhibiting. Maybe it was too hard to top the grandeur of last month's jaconde imprime wrapped entremets challenge?

My own preferences (or should I say prejudices?) aside, people seemed to enjoy the dessert. I got quite a few requests for the panna cotta recipe so it must have been pretty good. So don't let my dislike of panna cotta turn you off. Try it and decide for yourself.

Blog-checking lines: 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.

Continue reading...