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A spoonful of this creamy dessert and you will feel heaven in your mouth…

The more I have this, the more I fall for this dessert, totally love the personality of this dessert. It’s rich, creamy and just melts into your mouth. It can be made with less effort and with ingredients always hanging around in your kitchen. Very flexible dessert, each time I make this, I try out different flavor and all came out pretty yummy. Of all the flavors, I love the orange flavor the best, the tangy flavor of the orange gives this creamy dessert an extra kick.

Panna Cotta, an Italian dessert, which means ” cooked cream” is made by simmering together cream, milk and sugar, mixing this with gelatin, and letting it cool until set. To this we could add any kind of flavor, you name the flavor and you have it.

Perfect dessert for any special occasions, I am sure just like me you are not going to wait for any special occasions, any day is perfect to have this dessert.

Orange Panna Cotta:

  • Recipe Courtesy: Gale Gand
  • Cook Time: 10 min
  • Yield-6-8 servings

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
  • 3 tablespoons water
  • 4 cups heavy cream, or a combination of cream with milk or buttermilk
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 6 wide strips fresh orange peel (orange part only-no white pith)
  • 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise or vanilla extract
  • Semisweet chocolate curls, for garnish (optional)
  • Orange segments, for garnish

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Preparation:

  • In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the water and let soak 10 minutes (do not stir).
  • Meanwhile, heat the cream, sugar, orange peel, and vanilla in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, to dissolve the sugar. As soon as it simmers, turn off the heat and add the gelatin mixture, stirring to dissolve the gelatin. (If the gelatin doesn’t completely dissolve in 3 minutes, return to the heat and warm gently until dissolved.)
  • Strain the mixture into a pitcher to remove the vanilla bean and orange rind. Pour the mixture into 6 to 8 ramekins or dessert cups, or into 1 larger dish. Chill, uncovered, at least 3 hours.
  • To unmold, dip the cups in hot water for 10 seconds, then turn the panna cottas out onto dessert plates (or, simply serve in the cups or by the spoonful). Shave some chocolate curls onto the top of the panna cottas and serve with the orange segments.

Tips:

  • Other flavors you could try are passion fruit, coconut, strawberry, chocolate etc
  • You could pour this in different kind of fancy containers and chill it or even shot glasses, martini glasses works too.