Creamy Coffee Panna Cotta Recipe

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There is something so sophisticated and kind of fancy about coffee desserts, and this coffee panna cotta recipe is no exception. The secret? It’s not at all hard to make. Stick with me and I’ll show you how to make a creamy and delicious coffee dessert with just a handful of ingredients.

Another delicious coffee dessert is Coffee Bomba.

I think you’ll like my Irish coffee panna cotta and my chocolate panna cotta as well. For ease of browsing, check out out all of my individual desserts here. If you want something for a crowd, consider my cream cheese panna cotta tart!

3 glass jars of coffee panna cotta on a black plate with 3 silvers spoons ready for serving.

What You'll Find in This Post Click to view ToC

The LBD of Desserts

Seriously, panna cotta is a great dessert recipe to have in your back pocket.

It only requires a few ingredients to make it, and once you get the procedure down, you can flavor it in tons of different ways.

Flavors

Aside from the lemon corn, cream cheese, and chocolate versions I mention in the introduction, here are some other flavor ideas for you:

Matcha
Caramel
Raspberry
Strawberry
Blackberry (okay–all the berries)
Almond
Hazelnut
Lavender
Rose
Orange water
Lemon
Orange

And the list goes on and on. Whatever you can steep in dairy and then strain out or whatever spices and/or extracts you can add to it is fair game, flavor-wise.

Serving

You can also serve it in different ways, switching up the kind of conainers you pour it into or deciding to turn them out onto plates like you would flan.

Think out of the box when it comes to containers:

Small jam jars
Shot glasses
teacups or coffee cups
espresso mugs
Ramekins
Wine glasses or champagne flutes
Glass yogurt jars
Metal spice tins
Ceramic or glass salt cellars

Plating Panna Cotta

A clear coffee cup of panna cotta with whipped cream and cocoa sprinkled on top on a blue and white plate.

If you plan on serving your guys in containers, you can garnish with whipped cream or various sauces (depending on what flavor you make).

For these little coffee panna cottas, I used my Microplane to grate dark chocolate on some of them, for others I made some coffee flavored whipped cream. Another nice touch would be to serve them with chocolate covered espresso beans or even hot fudge sauce (cooled down to room temperature so the gelatin doesn’t melt).

If you decide you’d like to unmold your panna cotta to serve like flan, your best bet is to use silicone muffin molds, pop them in the freezer, and then pop the frozen pucks out onto serving plates.

NOTE: Yes, you can freeze panna cotta. They freeze like a dream and thaw to their original creamy consistency with no problem at all.

Of course, before serving, allow them time to reach 45F or so–cold enough that they still read as chilled desserts but well past the point of being icy.

If you don’t have silicone molds or don’t want to buy some, you can also mold and then freeze them in Solo-type cups, either small 4 oz souffle cups or even regular ones only filled with about 1/2 cup of mix.

Once frozen, use scissors to help you cut/tear away the plastic cup.

A more eco-friendly option would be to use paper cups. Just be sure to spray the insides with some pan spray to make sure they’re easy to peel away from your frozen panna cotta.

Ingredients

As with most recipes for this Italian classic, this one has a short list of ingredients:

heavy cream: you’ll use this, divided. Some you’ll whip until thick, so no substitutes here
whole milk: you can get away with 2% here, but I would not recommend anything with less fat or the texture will be too “slick” and not creamy
sugar: use granulated white or brown sugar here. Brown sugar will give you a bit deeper flavor
powdered gelatin: note that gelatin is an animal product, so coffee panna cotta (any kind, really) is not vegan or even vegetarian. If this is a concern, you may want to use agar agar instead. I have zero experience with this, but I do know it will change the texture since the set of agar is a bit “crunchier” than that of gelatin
salt: brings out the flavor in everything and counteracts any bitterness from the coffee
instant coffee: you can also use espresso powder if you have it
vanilla: I used vanilla paste here because I like to see the little flecks of vanilla suspended in the panna cotta. Feel free to use vanilla extract or even coffee extract here for really deep coffee flavor

The Keys to a Creamy Panna Cotta

A bite of creamy beige Coffee panna cotta on a spoon coming out of a clear coffee cup on a blue and white plate. — *See how creamy? This panna cotta really has a lovely texture!*

The key to getting a nice and creamy panna cotta is to divide the heavy cream, using some of it to cool off the hot milk mixture and the rest to very softly whip and then fold/whisk it into the rest right before pouring your mix into your containers.

You also want your base to be chilled enough that it is starting to thicken up as well. Ideally, it should be the same texture as your thickened cream. You can do this in one of two ways:

Place it in the fridge and whisk it every 15-20 minutes until it is just barely starting to set, or
Whisk it over an ice bath on the counter until it begins to thicken and set.

Now that I’ve given you the “secrets,” here are the steps.

Procedure

Stir the instant coffee into about 1/4 of your whole milk and then add your gelatin. Stir again and set aside for 10 minutes.
Bring the remainder of the milk, the sugar, and a pinch of salt to a bare simmer–it should not boil.
Off the heat, stir in the coffee/gelatin mixture. Whisk over the heat for just a few more seconds, making sure the mixture is smooth and not grainy. Again: don’t let it boil
Strain into half the heavy cream.
Chill over an ice bath or in the fridge until just starting to set and slightly thickened.
Softly whip the remaining cream along with the vanilla paste (something with “vanilla specks” in it is nice, but you can also use extract.)
Stir the thick cream into the gelatin mixture until thoroughly combined. The mixture should not separate into two layers. If it does, chill it and whisk it a bit more.
Pour this final mixture through a small strainer (optional) and into serving dishes/containers.
Chill, garnish as desired, and serve.

Q & A

Can I change the flavor?

Absolutely. Use citrus zest, extracts, etc to alter the flavor of your panna cotta. If you want to keep the base flavor coffee, use additions that will complement your personalized coffee panna cotta: orange zest, cinnamon, and chocolate come immediately to mind.

Can I freeze panna cotta?

Absolutely. Panna cotta freezes beautifully. If you’re unmolding it, you can plate them still frozen and then let them thaw to just chilled. Keep them in the freezer until about 45 minutes to an hour before you plan on serving them, and they will thaw out and be perfect.

How long will it last in the fridge?

Gelatin has the annoying habit of continuing to set more and more firmly as time goes on, so for best texture, either freeze your little guys or serve them within 3 days. They’ll be fine to eat for up to a week, but the texture will be more firm the longer you wait. Keep them well covered with plastic wrap so they don’t pick up any off-flavors in the fridge.

If you have questions about this post or recipe, don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can leave a comment on the post and I will get back to you within about 24 hours.

If your question is more urgent, please shoot me an email, and I will respond within 4 hours, unless I’m asleep.

Email Jenni

Summer Dessert Week Posts, Wednesday, 7/8/2020

Welcome to the 4th Annual #SummerDessertWeek event hosted by Angie from Big Bear’s Wife.

We’re celebrating all things summer with a week-long event that is absolutely filled with some of the best summer dessert recipes! Follow the hashtag #SummerDessertWeek on social media to find recipes and make sure to check out the bottom of this post for even more summer desserts!

Check out the amazing #SummerDessertWeek recipes from our bloggers today!
Ice Cream & Chilled Desserts:

Caramelized Pineapple No-Churn Ice Cream from Love and Confections
Chocolate Covered Frozen Strawberries from Our Sutton Place
Coffee Panna Cotta from Pastry Chef Online (You’re here!)
Strawberry Margarita Popsicles from Cheese Curd In Paradise
Pineapple-Orange Sherbet Popsicles from Palatable Pastime
Strawberry Rhubarb Ice Pops from Jolene’s Recipe Journal

Sweet Summertime Cakes and Cupcakes:

Southern Pineapple Sunshine Cake from Big Bear’s Wife
Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
Strawberry Pound Cake from Savory Experiments
Blueberry Lemon Dump Cake from Sweet ReciPEAs
Key Lime Sheet Cake from It’s Shanaka

No Bake Treats:

Fruity Watermelon Pizza from Blogghetti

Baked Desserts:

Chocolate Chess Pie from Back To My Southern Roots
Bourbon Peach Empanadas from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
Rhubarb Thumbprints from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Summer Treats:

Easy Caramel Banana Sauce from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings

A Note About Measurements

glass coffee cup of coffee panna cotta on a blue patterned plate

NOTE: Most of my recipes are written by weight and not volume, even the liquids.

Even though I try to provide you with volume measurements as well, I encourage you to buy a kitchen scale for ease of measuring, accuracy, and consistency.

This is the scale I use, love, and recommend. If you’re unsure, please read my post about how to use a food scale.

If you make this recipe and/or have enjoyed or learned from reading this post, I’d appreciate it if you could share this!

I have Convenient share buttons that float to the left on desk top and on mobile which invite you to share on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter or Yummly.

If you make the recipe, please consider rating it a rating and a review. You can do this via the recipe card in the post.

Reviews really help sell the recipe, and negative reviews help me tune into what people really want to have explained better, so any ratings and reviews are helpful!

Also feel free to tag me on Instagram at @onlinepastrychef with #pcorecipe so I can find your creation. Thank you!

Creamy Coffee Panna Cotta Recipe

Yield: 4

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Chill Time: 4 hours 30 minutes

Total Time: 4 hours 45 minutes

This coffee panna cotta is rich and creamy and is the perfect ending to a summer meal. Why drink your coffee when you can eat it as dessert?

Ingredients

8 oz whole milk, divided use
1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin
3-4 teaspoons instant coffee (depending on how strong a coffee flavor you like)
1/3-1/2 cup granulated sugar (depending on how sweet you like things)
healthy pinch of salt
8 oz heavy cream, divided use
1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract

Instructions

Place 1/4 cup of the milk (2 oz), the gelatin, and the instant coffee in a small bowl. Stir and allow the gelatin to bloom for about 10 minutes.
In a small saucepan, heat the remainder of the milk together with the sugar and salt until steaming but not boiling.
Stir in the gelatin/coffee mixture and heat another 5-10 seconds, again not letting the mixture boil.
Set aside to cool for 30 minutes.
Strain the coffee/gelatin mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl.
Stir in half of the heavy cream.
Add the vanilla to the other half of the cream and whip it until the vanilla bean specks are suspended and don't sink and the whisk leaves tracks in the cream.
Whisk/fold the softely whipped cream into the coffee/gelatin mixture.
Pour into small containers and refrigerate for 3-4 hours before serving. Garnish with whipped cream, a chocolate covered espresso bean or some finely grated chocolate.

Notes

STORING: Store in the fridge for no more than 4 days. The gelatin will continue to get firmer as they sit in the refrigerator, so for best texture, serve within a day or two of making.

FREEZING: Freeze, well-wrapped, for up to a month. Thaw in the fridge until no longer icy.

SWEETEN TO TASTE: Use more or less sugar, depending on taste. If you are going to use 4 teaspoons of instant coffee, you will probably want to use 1/2 cup of sugar. If you use 3 teaspoons of instant coffee, you will most likely be fine with 1/3 cup of sugar.

SUBSTITUTING ESPRESS POWDER: If all you have is espresso powder, start with 2 teaspoons and see how you like it and then go from there. This dessert really is all about making it to taste.

TO UNMOLD: If you'd like to unmold these panna cottas, increase the amount of gelatin to 2 teaspoons for a firmer set.