A trio of Panna cottas!

So I spent a whole Saturday catching up on Master chef Australia and after seeing hour after hour of Pannacottas and Semifreddos, I decided to make my own.

When I want to try something the first time, I am automatically drawn to Novella Lawson because her recipes are so well written. While I did tweak the recipe her description of the perfect Pannacotta was my bench mark for this dessert. She says 'A Pannacotta must have a voluptuous and quivering softness, as if trembling between solid and liquid.' I can hear this in my head every time I unmould one on to a plate!

So here is the basic Pannacotta recipe

What you need:
1)8 gm teaspoons gelatin
2) 500 ml cream
3) 125 gm castor sugar
4) 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

How:

1)Put a quarter cup of water in a shallow bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Set aside.

2) Heat the cream and sugar in a pan on low heat, stirring often. Once the cream starts to bubble on the edges, take it off the heat.

3) Here is where it becomes fun, you can now add into this 120 ml of any liquid flavouring you want. I added filter coffee decoction(Coffee Pannacotta) , strong tea brewed with crushed cardamom and ginger (Irani Chai Pannacotta), and Cointreau (Vanilla Pannacotta).

4) Microwave the gelatin briefly to melt it. Pour the gelatin into the hot cream and stir well. Mix in the vanilla extract. For the coffee one I replaced the Vanilla extract with Kahlua and with Old Monk in the Irani Chai one! I strongly recommend adding the alcohol as the smoothness of the set Pannacotta somehow is enhanced by this!

5) Filter the cream mixture through a sieve into a jug. Pour into lightly greased cups or a big serving bowl, as desired. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for about 4 hours or overnight.

I took mine out about 5 minutes before eating them to make them deliciously soft set!!

Irani Chai Pannacotta

Vanilla Pannacotta with red wine poached pears

Filter coffee pannacotta with a biscuit crumb and dark chocolate bites