Do you ever find one of those fancy recipes that’s so easy to make that you feel a little resentful that restaurants have been tricking you all those years?
Well, that’s how panna cotta made me feel.
For anyone who is unfamiliar, panna cotta is the Italian version of pot de creme, or the eggless cheater version of custard, whatever you want to call it. It’s a combination of heavy cream, sugar, gelatin, and whatever flavoring you’re using.
And that’s it folks.
Yes, I’m serious. (This is NOT an April Fool’s Joke!!!)
(So that begs the question: why was I spending $6 a dessert on this again…?)
But that also means that at your next dinner party you will be able to impress all your guests without actually trying that hard. It’s a win-win! 
My version is lovingly called vanilla panna cotta with roasted raspberries. I scented my panna cotta with vanilla bean (but feel free to use vanilla extract if you don’t have beans) for an extra fancy flair. While your panna cotta is setting, roast up some raspberries and voila! 
(Almost) Instant dessert. 
In other news, I’m currently cranking my cooking into high gear to come up with an e-cookbook. (Oh yes, I am going there). It’ll be free, so don’t worry about that. It will include some blog recipes that already exist, but I’m aiming for about 8-9 never before seen NEW recipes! It’ll be e-mailed out to all my current e-mail subscribers when it’s ready as a huge THANK YOU for caring and supporting this little blog.
And if you are not already a subscriber, but you like what you see, click that handy little subscribe button to prepare yourself to receive all sort of The Gourmet Gourmand goodies in the upcoming weeks and months.
Vanilla Panna Cotta with Roasted Raspberries
Ingredients
_For the Vanilla Panna Cotta_
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 whole vanilla bean may substitute with 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoons gelatin
- 2 tablespoons water
_For the Roasted Raspberries:_
- 12 oz fresh or frozen raspberries
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 vanilla bean
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Vanilla Panna Cotta
- Lightly grease four ¾-1 cup ramekins and set aside.
- In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine gelatin and water. Stir together briefly until the gelatin softens slightly.
- Microwave gelatin mixture for about 30-45 seconds or until gelatin is warm and completely dissolved. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan combine heavy cream and sugar. Take your vanilla bean and gently slice it open with a paring knife. Scrape the seeds from the inside of the bean and add them to the cream mixture. Toss the opened bean in the mixture as well.
- Heat cream over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils.
- Remove mixture from heat and stir in the gelatin (if skipping the vanilla bean and using vanilla extract, add this now). Remove the vanilla bean.
- Distribute mixture evenly between your ramekins. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
- When ready to serve run a sharp knife around the edges of the ramekin. Invert ramekin onto plate. It should slide out easily, but if it doesn't, heat up a bowl of water in the microwave and set the bottom of the ramekin in the hot water for about 1 minute. This will melt the bottom and allow the panna cotta to slide out of the mold completely. Alternatively, feel free to serve panna cotta in the mold.
To make the roasted raspberries:
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
- In a mixing bowl combine raspberries, sugar, and seeds from 1 vanilla bean.
- Pour raspberries onto a sheet pan (line it with parchment for easier clean-up). Roast berries for 20 minutes and then pour into a bowl.
- Stir in pure vanilla extract (add an additional ¼ teaspoon if not using vanilla bean).
- Let come to room temperature before spooning over panna cotta.
Wow, it’s amazing how easy this is to make. It looks delicious.
Yes! It’s definitely one of the easiest desserts I’ve ever made!
They look amazing! Totally yum ?
Thanks Tandy! This was definitely a good one 🙂
What a perfect dessert and love the idea of roasted raspberries (I don’t think I’ve ever done that, so must!!)
Yes it’s a really easy technique! Definitely going to do it more often 🙂
This panna cotta looks divine, I love that you added tart roasted raspberries too – such a delicious flavour combination!
Vanilla and raspberry are a match made in heaven!
Roasted raspberries! Sounds amazing. I haven’t been a big panna cotta fan in the past (having been scarred for life by the terrible, soap-like versions mass produced at college for formal dinners..) but yours looks about a billion times better, so I might have to give them another chance! x
OH goodness that sounds awful- these are definitely not soapy at all. The flavor reminds me of really silky vanilla ice cream (minus being frozen). Definitely a must try 🙂
I love panna cotta, but raspberry is my true love 😀 so this one is a perfect for me!
Thanks Mila!! I’m absolutely obsessed 🙂
This is seriously so elegant. It’s *almost* too pretty to eat. 🙂
haha love they keyword there “almost” 😉
Pannacottta is so underrated. You make it look so easy too! I gotta make this more often.
Hey Sarah- omg I was literally just stalking your blog today and I want to make your nutella cheesecake tart. Apparently we are mutual dessert covet-ers 😉 Thanks for the compliments!