The Daring Bakers' Challenge for February 2011

The February 2011 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies. As soon as I saw this challenge I couldn't help but smile. Panna Cotta or "cooked cream" is one of my honey's favorites. It is light and creamy and simply delicious in any flavor. Topped with a fruit jam, fresh fruit, or gelee it's over the top good!

The recipe that Mallory suggested is from Giada De Laurentis and is my favorite "go to" recipe as well. The ingredients list is short: milk, powdered gelatin, heavy cream, honey, sugar, and a pinch of salt. For the directions I'll let you visit Mallory's blog or one of my fellow Daring Bakers blogs, or you can go back to my post from June 2010. I chose to top mine with some fruite gelee using blueberries that I had been saving in the freezer for just this sort of occassion. I also decided to try some of Mallory's suggested coffee gelee too. I couldn't decide which I liked best. Oh well, I'll just have to keep tasting. :)

The next part of the challenge was to make Nestles's Florentine Cookies. I have made many a cookie in my day but, never a florentine cookie using oatmeal. That's right something healthy....as in oatmeal, and fiber. Oh and a chocolate filling too. We all know how good chocolate is for us!

The cookie dough came together easily and baked up nice and chewy. I had some chocolate ganache from a previous project so I used it to fill the florentines. A wise choice if I do say so myself. These cookies were addicting!

Overall, this was a very tasty challenge. My honey was happy as were my other taste testers. Thank you Mallory for presenting this challenge.

Vanilla Panna Cotta with Strawberry Coulis

Panna Cotta or "cooked cream" is a northern Italian dessert with different versions found in Greece & France. My best description is that it is a distant cousin to custard without the eggs. Panna Cotta is simple and quick to prepare, looks impressive, tastes light and smooth. It can be made in many flavors; chocolate, mocha, vanilla, strawberry, and more. It can be chilled in a glass then served or chilled in a bowl then inverted onto a dish for serving. You can serve it with a fruit coulis or fresh fruit or on its own. If you have never tried it I highly recommend it.

This week I decided to make a simple Vanilla Panna Cotta and top it with a fresh strawberry coulis, since it is still strawberry season and I love strawberry anything!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup whole Milk

1 1/2 tsp powdered Gelatin

1 1/2 cup Heavy Cream

1/4 cup Sugar

Pinch Salt

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla

Coulis or fruit as desired

Instructions:

Place the milk in a heavy saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatin over the surface and let stand for 5 minutes to soften (a.k.a.- bloom) the gelatin.

Stir over medium heat just until the gelatin desolves, but the milk does NOT boil, about 2 minutes.

Stir in the cream, sugar, and salt. Remove from the heat.

Divide equally into desired vessels, place a small piece of plastic wrap directly to the surface (to prevent skin). Chill until set (several hours). Remove plastic, serve as desired with or without fruit.The possibilites are limited only to your imagination.

Coulis is a sauce make with fruit puree. I took some strawberry jam that I made a couple of weeks ago along with some fresh strawberries and gave them a whirl in the food processor. This lucious sauce was spooned over the chilled and set panna cotta. Topped with some fresh sliced strawberries and done! That easy and boy oh boy does this make a hit!

I hope you give it a try.