A delicious and simple recipe for red berry panna cotta. A dessert that doesn’t require an oven and is delicious with fresh berries. It’s a classic Italian dessert and always a crowd pleaser!
Sometimes you make a recipe in the summer and it turns out to be especially popular in the winter, as a Christmas dessert. Such was the case with this red berry panna cotta. I came up with the recipe in the summer because it’s great on hot days when you don’t want to turn on the oven to bake something but when you still want to serve something easy and delicious.
This easy panna cotta recipe tastes fantastic both in summer and in winter. In summer you can take advantage of all the summer fruits and use whatever fresh fruit is in season. In the winter you can use frozen fruit for everything, except maybe for the garnish.
So, are you looking for a tasty dessert for barbecue season or for your Christmas dinner? You’re gonna love this creamy panna cotta for sure!
Panna cotta is incredibly easy to make and can be prepared well in advance. Most panna cotta recipes will keep in the refrigerator for two to three days. This is great if you want to make the dessert a night or two before a dinner party.
Of course, you can make a classic panna cotta recipe with no frills and just vanilla extract. Very tasty on its own, but I still prefer to go for an extra dimension of flavor. So I added red berries to this panna cotta recipe.
Making the panna cotta is super easy to do. You first soak your gelatin sheets in cold water for 5 minutes. Use a small saucepan and add the heavy cream to it with the sugar and the vanilla. Gently heat on medium heat right up to the boiling point. Take of the heat and squeeze the excess water out of the softened gelatin leaves. Add to the warm panna cotta mixture and stir until the gelatin is dissolved.
Divide your panna cotta mixture over 4 moulds and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge for at least 3 hours or until you’re ready to serve.
You can choose to serve the panna cotta in glasses (wine glasses or coupes are usually a nice touch) or unmold onto a dessert plate.
Now once your panna cotta is in the fridge you can make your fresh berry sauce. Take a medium saucepan and add fruit, water and sugar together. Heat gently and stir often. You can use a fork to squish the fruit a bit and let it simmer for a few minutes in the pan. Let it cool completely before you add it to your panna cotta. Serve the panna cotta with your homemade compote and other leftover fruits.
It is absolutely one of my favorite desserts and easy to vary too. You can make a blueberry panna cotta, add a little bit of lemon zest for added freshness or use any other fruits you want.
For the red berry mixture, you can. Defrost the fruit completely and drain the excess liquid. I would not use frozen fruit for the top decoration. If you do not want to buy fresh red fruit because it is out of season, omit it or make the layer a little thicker. If you’re using fruit with seeds like raspberries you can put it through a sieve to discard seeds. Not necessary but it’s optional.
It depends on the reason. For a less “fatty” version, you can replace half of the cream mixture with Greek yogurt or sour cream, which is also very tasty. By the way, you do not heat the yogurt, only the whipping cream. So first heat the cream, add the gelatin and then add the yogurt. It will still be a creamy texture but a little bit fresher.
For a lactose-free version, you can simply replace the whipping cream with a lactose-free alternative. For example, lactose-free whipping cream or coconut milk (if you prefer).
A panna cotta should be fairly firm. If you make it in a glass and serve it that way, you can easily omit a sheet of gelatin if you prefer. If you want to turn the panna cotta over and serve it without the glass small bowl, you should really stick to the four sheets of gelatin for that amount of whipped cream.
Yes, you can. The easiest way is to use agar agar as a substitute. This is a vegetable-based thickening agent derived from red seaweed. See the back of the package for instructions. About 1.5 – 2 grams (0.05 ounce) of agar-agar is more than enough to replace the gelatin in the recipe below.
Of course! I have made many panna cotta recipes over the years and I will share more of those soon. But to give you an idea: have you ever tried poached pear panna cotta? Just replace the berries with poached pears on top.
If you love panna cotta, you probably love some inspiration for easy desserts! And you’re in luck, because I like those too. Here are a few of my favorites:
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