Ahhhh panna cotta, the love child of jello and pudding. It sounds weird but it's so right. A chocolate and vanilla blend makes it even better. As Jerry Seinfeld says "I love the black and white, two races of flavour living side by side in harmony, it's a wonderful thing!" If people only looked to the panna cotta, all our problems would be solved.
Ingredients:
1 ½ cup cream
1/4 cup milk
1/4 Baileys - I tried the Pumpkin Spice flavour and FYI it was a great decision
2 tbsp gelatin
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup dark chocolate
Instructions:
Heat HALF the Baileys, milk, sugar and cream in a non-stick pan, on low until the mixture boils. You will be using the other half of the quantities later on.
Place HALF the gelatin in a separate bowl on medium heat and add little dashes of water until the gelatin dissolves. Or, if you're lazy, you can melt it in the microwave.
Add the gelatin to the Baileys mixture and whisk well, then let cool.
Fill a small pot of water and bring to boil. Once it's boiling, lower to medium heat and place a pan with the dark chocolate ontop of the pot. Stir chocolate until it is melted.
Add the melted chocolate to the Baileys mixture and whisk well.
Find a fancy glass to serve the panna cotta in, tip it to the side and pour a desired amount of the chocolate mixture into it.
Make sure you figure out a system in your freezer so your glass can rest on an angle so the chocolate mixture can gel on a diagonal. Keep in the freezer for about 2-3 hours.
When you're getting closer to the end of the 2-3 hours and the chocolate panna cotta is firm, repeat the above steps with the other halves of the quantities but instead of adding chocolate you will add the vanilla to this batch.
Now sit the glass up right and pour in the vanilla mixture and freeze again for 2-3 hours.
You can change this recipe in many ways to make it your own. For example:
You can use a ½ cup of Baileys and no milk, or no Baileys, OR a different flavour like Baileys Salted Caramel or Strawberries & Cream.
I found I liked the texture of the chocolate panna cotta more than the vanilla. The next time I make this I'm going to add melted white chocolate chips to the vanilla half instead.
Instead of doing the funky design you can just layer the panna cotta like a parfait.