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Vanilla and Coconut Panna cotta

Vanilla and Coconut Panna cotta

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Panna cotta is an Italian easy dessert, which means “cooked cream”.  This dessert is a pudding which is thickened with gelatin and then molded.

Some months ago I bought some coconut milk for desserts but I didn’t have any idea what to do with it. Somehow it got forgotten in the cupboard and a few weeks ago when I was cleaning the cupboards and emptied them I found it again.

I google searched writing “coconut, dessert” but did not see anything that would interest me, except for a coconut panna cotta with pumpkin. That gave me the idea of a panna cotta, so typing coconut, panna cotta, I got lots of interesting recipes and decided to follow this one. I read a few more to see what ingredients are usually used and getting a rough idea, I decided to make a vanilla panna cotta and serve it some with strawberry sauce.

Making it with heavy cream (panna) is delicious but if you want something less fattening, you should try it with coconut milk.  There are 348 calories in 100 ml of Heavy Cream whereas only 198 calories in 100 ml of Light Cream and 230 calories in 100 ml of coconut milk.

You can  serve the cream as it is or serve it with a fruit sauce.  I had some strawberries at home so made this quick and easy Strawberry Sauce.

The second recipe was made much later.

I’m submitting this recipe to Linda from Got Milk? I saw the event some days ago and I promised I would post a recipe as Linda wants to inform younger ladies of how important it is to breastfeed their children. Linda gives very detailed information why women should breast feed and here are some of her examples:

Did you know that breastfed children:
Have a higher IQ?
Have less ear infections?
Have less food allergies?
Have lower chances of leukemia?
And the list goes on….

And here are some more about the mothers:

Did you know that breastfeeding:
Helps you loose weight faster? (didn’t work for me unfortunately, luckily I didn’t gain too much during pregnancy)
Helps you be more relaxed? (worked for me)
Saves money?
Gives protection against different kinds of cancer? (breast, uterine, ovarian)

I personally breastfed all three of my children.

Vanilla and Coconut Panna cotta

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time : 5 minutes

Makes about 12

Ingredients:

  • 5 gelatine sheets (softened in 3/4 cup of water)
  • 1 x 400 ml can coconut milk
  • 250 ml (1 cup) low fat cream
  • ½ cup of sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Strawberry sauce:

  • 1 cup of strawberries
  • 3 spoonfuls of sugar
  • A few spoonfuls of water, just to wet sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Directions:

  1. Place the gelatine sheets in a bowl of cold water and set aside for 5 minutes to soften.
  2. Combine the coconut milk, cream, sugar and vanilla in saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until sugar dissolves and mixture is heated through. Remove from heat. Remove the gelatine from the water and add to the coconut-milk mixture. Gently stir until gelatine dissolves. Place in the refrigerator to set.
  3. Meanwhile, to prepare the sauce, place the strawberries in a small non-stick frying pan, add sugar, water and vanilla and stir. Until it begins to boil, press the strawberries with the spoon, so that they break and release their juices. Lower heat and stir for 5 minutes until the sugar caramelizes.

chocolate-banana-pannacotta

The second panna cotta is made with more milk than heavy cream, to reduce the fat content of heavy cream.  However, you can use 800 ml of only cream.  I sweetened the cream with leftover bergamot syrup but this can be replaced with sugar or honey.

Banana Panna cotta with Chocolate Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 550 ml milk (or heavy cream)
  • 250 ml heavy cream
  • 3 ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ½ cup bergamot fruit preserve syrup (or Greek honey)
  • 12 gelatin leaves

Chocolate sauce:

  • 50 grams good-quality dark chocolate (use at least 70% cocoa solids)
  • 125 ml heavy cream
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • A pinch of salt
  • Freshly grated black pepper (optional)

Directions:

  1. Soak the gelatin leaves in cold water for 5 minutes.
  2. Mash the bananas in a food processor with 1 cup milk, vanilla and bergamot syrup (or honey).  Heat the remaining milk and cream and dissolve the gelatin.
  3. Mix in the bananas and refrigerate for 2 – 3 hours until the cream sets.
  4. Place a double boiler (bain Mari) on the heat and add the heavy cream.  When the water starts boiling add the chocolate, cut into pieces and mix until it starts melting.  Add the honey, salt and pepper and continue mixing until it melts.
  5. Unmold the panna cotta.
  6. Serve with some chocolate sauce and a fruit preserve.

Kopiaste and Kali Orexi!

signature Ivy

 

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Ivy

Wednesday 30th of July 2008

That would be really silly to go on breastfeeding if they had poor quality of milk. At least they could give a supplement of meal so that the child would not starve.

Núria

Wednesday 30th of July 2008

I see that you are a pro breastfeeding woman! I'm too!

But, I've also seen women that didn't have a good quality of milk and their babies were starving. That, I hate! First goes the baby! They insisted for more than 3 months... it was such a pitty!

Ivy

Friday 25th of July 2008

Swati, it is very easy and you will like it with coconut milk.

Swati: Sugarcraft India

Friday 25th of July 2008

I have never had panacotta yet..Imagine!!This loks simple..Rather you make it look so simple Ivy!!

Ivy

Thursday 24th of July 2008

Srikar, thanks for tagging me but I have played this meme a few months back, so maybe another time.

Coco, we really liked coconut milk but it was new to me so I have to learn more about it's use.

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