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Cashew milk panna cotta topped with homemade chocolate sauce drizzle, redbud flowers, and garnished with clementine segments and coconut flakes |
I mentioned the other day that
I bought 2.2 lbs of gelatin in bulk- I never expected I'd put it to use this quickly!
My neighbor is coming over for lunch tomorrow, and I wanted to make a tasty dessert to serve after the meal, but I had a bit of a dilemma. You see, my neighbor is allergic to nuts and many raw fruit- the very things that I typically use to make my desserts, since I don't eat dairy, gluten, grains, egg, or white sugar. Coming up with a dessert that everyone at the table would be able to eat was a challenge, and a friend recommended coconut milk panna cotta, and sent me the link to
this recipe.
I'd never heard of panna cotta before, but it sounded terrific- its an Italian milk or cream based jello, essentially, and it could be flavored a variety of ways.
I made some
homemade coconut milk to make panna cotta... and then found out that my guest might also be allergic to coconut, but isn't to cashews, so then made some
cashew milk.
Because of that, I ended making two versions of this same dish- one with cashew milk, and one with coconut milk. One sweetened with maple syrup, one with white sugar. Both different, both delicious.
I recommend this dessert to anyone- since it can be made with whatever milk you can use/have available, and with whatever sweetener you like- and can be made vegan with agar agar- according to this site, replace the gelatin with 1 teaspoon powdered agar, and instead of heating the milk until it steams as in step two, bring it to a boil and let it boil, mixing constantly, for 30 seconds.
I've seen panna cotta made with fennel, which inspires me to make some
wild fennel infused panna cotta next time. It also inspired me to top my panna cotta with foraged edible sweet and sour
redbud flowers.
To make your panna cotta fancier and even tastier, top with chopped up fruit, edible flowers, nuts or shredded coconut, or drizzle with syrup. I made
homemade chocolate syrup to drizzle on ours.
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Coconut milk panna cotta topped with redbud flowers and garnished with chocolate sauce. |
Don't forget to oil the sides of your molds- I didn't, which caused some of mine to break...
Of course, with the right plating, even broken panna cotta can look purposeful and fancy, so even if yours does break upon removal from the mold, it is still salvageable.
Homemade Panna Cotta Recipe- Paleo and Allergy Friendly Options, Dairy Free, Egg Free, Vegan Option