Vanilla Panna Cotta is a traditional Italian dessert that is pretty easy to make and is absolutely delicious! The delicate vanilla combined with strawberries makes the dessert perfect for hot summer nights and any other holiday or family gathering during the year.
This is also one of the few desserts made without flour, sugar, eggs, and baking, making this “cooked cream” a perfect gluten-free choice. Even if you are a beginning home cook and don’t have a lot of experience making desserts, this homemade vanilla panna cotta recipe is pretty easy to follow, and it won’t take a lot of your time. In addition, it doesn’t require any expensive equipment or special dessert-making skills, so it’s the perfect choice for those who want to prepare a quick and tasteful light dessert with the ingredients we all usually have in our kitchen. Let’s get started!
Basic recipe information:
- Diet: Gluten-free
- Level: easy / beginners
- Approximate preparation time: 10 minutes
- Approximate cooking time: 5 minutes
- Number of servings: 4
Required Equipment:
- Bowl of cold water
- Saucepan
- Knife
- Serving plate
- 4 ramekins or serving dishes
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 teaspoons gelatin powder
- 150ml (5 fl oz) milk
- 400ml (14 fl oz) heavy or double cream
- 60g (2.1 oz ) granulated sugar
- 3 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- fresh strawberries and Strawberry compote (optional)
Preparation directions:
- Prepare a bowl of cold water and add the gelatin to it. Let it soak for 5 minutes to bloom.
- Put the cream and milk into a saucepan with the vanilla and sugar.
- Stir constantly until everything is well combined.
- Heat on medium low and bring 140 degrees fahrenheit or hot the touch–do not boil. Now you should carefully remove it from the heat.
- Add bloomed geliatin to the milk mixture. Make sure to stir until the bloomed gelatin is completely dissolved.
- lightly oil the bottom and sides of the ramekins and gently wipe off excess oil with with a paper towel.
- Pour the mixture into four ramekins and place it in the refridgerater for at least two hours.
How to serve?
Turn each ramekin (also known as a souffle dish) upside down onto a serving plate. If the cotta doesn’t drop out, you can fix the problem by carefully dipping the ramekin in a bowl of warm water. This will make the cotta loosen up a bit. Add fresh sliced strawberries and a bit of strawberry compote on the top, and voila! Your homemade vanilla panna cotta is ready to be served.
