Creamy Coffee Panna Cotta Recipe

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

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

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:

1. Place it in the fridge and whisk it every 15-20 minutes until it is just barely starting to set, or
2. 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

1. 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.
2. Bring the remainder of the milk, the sugar, and a pinch of salt to a bare simmer–it should not boil.
3. 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
4. Strain into half the heavy cream.
5. Chill over an ice bath or in the fridge until just starting to set and slightly thickened.
6. Softly whip the remaining cream along with the vanilla paste (something with “vanilla specks” in it is nice, but you can also use extract.)
7. 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.
8. Pour this final mixture through a small strainer (optional) and into serving dishes/containers.
9. Chill, garnish as desired, and serve.

Q & A

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.

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

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.

Thanks so much for spending some time with me today. Enjoy your delicious dessert–and all the Summer Dessert Week desserts!

Take care, and have a lovely day.