Ok let me just preface this by saying that this attempt was a total fail! The beautiful photo above was actually taken by MrsJpvan2 and it just looks delicious and beautiful right? Well my panna cotta was totally delicious … and totally ugly!
I fully set out to create this yummy scrum-dilly-umptious dessert that my daughter loooves, and instead ended up creating a disaster. Full video of said disaster, tears and all here or watch the video below!
So a couple of things, 1) have proper ramekins and not a bundt. This will all make sense soon, and 2) measure things properly and don’t eye ball them like I did. Again, this will all make sense. But first:
Ingredients:
- 1 envelope unflavored gelatin (about 1 tablespoon)
- 2 tablespoons cold water
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup half and half
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
I got this super yummy recipe from epicurious and if you’d like to see the original post click here, their description of it is much better than mine considering they properly prepared it. So I gave it a go, not having the correct measuring cups and also ahem not having mini ramekins.
Method:
Sprinkle the gelatin over the 2 tablespoons of water and let it thicken in a small saucepan for about a minute. It will begin to gel up. Then dissolve the mixture over low heat for about another minute and remove from heat. In another saucepan boil together the half and half, sugar, and cream – this takes about 7 minutes or so. Remove the pan from the stove and whisk in the vanilla and gelatin mixture. OK OK, then you’re SUPPOSED to divide the mixture amongst 8 1/2 cup ramekins, cover, and chill in the refrigerator for 4+ hours.
OK OK, soooo I didn’t have ramekins and knowing what those were at the time was like trying to pronounce it … not happening. So instead I used a bundt cake mold and chilled the mixture in it over night. The next morning it was … how do you say … a disaster!
It fell apart, it flattened, it sunk just as fast as my heart did when I lifted the bundt mold. But the AMAZING and redeeming fact is that it tasted incredible! Minus looking at the hideous blob I had before me, the taste was spectacular! Light, creamy, sweet, and I made a raspberry topping to go with it.
For the topping I just took a package of raspberries and boiled them with some honey and coconut oil until it looked right and tasted right. I plopped it on top and walllaaa! It was boyfriend tested and kid approved! HA!
Try this recipe out for yourself, I know you’re go at it will be much more successful than this. I really am a wonderful cook/baker I promise, it just I swear when the camera is on it becomes a semi-disaster!
What have you made that was a disaster to look at but a party to your taste buds?!?!?!
I can honestly say that it is usually the ugliest food that tastes the best! & that’s all that matters…right? Unless of course your main objective is making the food insta-pretty rather than how it tastes lol! & yours actually doesn’t even look as bad as you think it looks! I’d probably eat the whole damn thing myself! You & Joe don’t look too happy in the photo, but I have a feeling you secretly were & your Panna Cotta tasted great! (: I’m definitely going to try the recipe, thank you sweetie!!!!
Oh, & I completely forgot to ask the question I originally wanted to ask in my first comment after I started blabbing on about ugly looking but delicious tasting food lol! Okay, you say you let yours chill over night in the fridge. Is that the amount of time that you would recommend it chills before serving? Or is there a different amount of time you would recommend & even use yourself if you were to make it again? Or is it even possible for it to still turn out just as good with way less of a chill period? (I ask if you could honestly recommend a shorter time for it to chill because if you knew my family & I, we have a pretty hard time waiting on foods to thoroughly finish before we dig in, especially when they are desserts lol!) (: Thanks a ton in advance!