About 2 weeks ago I was invited to a pretty cool event in Hollywood. Got Milk? is promoting summer milk treats for the upcoming seasons and is getting local food bloggers, PR and news stations to get these awesome treats out there.
I was so exited that I was invited and even MORE excited when I heard who was going to be teaching us some of the desserts. You may recognize her…from uhhh…Top Chef Desserts….
Slightly star struck?? Nahhh! Danielle was awesome! It was an intimate group of women where she taught us the perfect and casual technique of Swiss meringue paired with a chocolate tart. But what caught my eye was her Lavender-Vanilla Panna cotta, which is what I made for you today!
Want to see more photos of the fun event? Check it out here!
1) In a saucepan over medium heat, bring the vanilla bean, lavender, sugar, ½ cup milk and 1 ½ cups of heavy cream to a simmer. Cover, remove from heat and set aside to steep for 30 minutes.
2) In a separate bowl, mix the gelatin powder in with remaining ½ cup milk to hydrate.
3) Reheat vanilla mixture and pour over gelatin mixture. Whisk everything together until combined and the gelatin is dissolved. Then whisk in the crème fraiche and strain the mixture. Cool to room temperature.
4) Now, with an electric mixer, whisk the remaining 1 ½ cups of heavy cream to soft peaks. I have to be honest with you. I messed up the first time when I found out I got an A in my stats class and was jumping up and down from excitement that I left the mixer on! Ha! So keep a close watch. It can go from soft peaks to cottage cheese in seconds!
5) Next, gently fold in vanilla bean mixture in two parts.
6) Pour the milk mixture into ramekins (or cups) and chill for at least 6 hours or overnight.
7) Now onto the glorious sweet berry caramel sauce!
In a saucepan over high heat, combine sugar and water. Boil until mixture is an amber color.
8) Add berry puree and butter.
9) Whisk until dissolved then strain.
10) Pour berry sauce over panna cotta (that’s already solidified) and top with fresh berries.
Lavender Vanilla Panna Cotta with Got Milk?
Ingredients
Panna Cotta
- 1 vanilla bean split
- 2 ¼ tsp. dried lavender
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 cup milk
- 3 cups heavy cream
- ½ cup crème fraiche
- 1 tbsp. powdered gelatin
Berry Caramel Sauce
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ cup water
- 1 ¾ cup fresh berries in season, pureed
- 1 tbsp. butter
Instructions
- In a saucepan over medium heat, bring vanilla bean, lavender, sugar, ½ cup milk and 1 ½ cups of heavy cream to a simmer. Cover, remove from heat and set aside to steep for 30 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, mix gelatin powder in remaining ½ cup milk to hydrate.
- Reheat vanilla mixture and pour over gelatin mixture. Whisk until combined and gelatin is dissolved.
- Whisk in crème fraiche and strain. Cool to room temperature.
- With an electric mixer, whisk remaining 1 ½ cups of heavy cream to soft peaks.
- Gently fold in vanilla bean mixture in two parts and pour mixture into small ramekins or cups and chill for 6 hours or overnight.
Berry Caramel Sauce
- In a saucepan over high heat, combine sugar and water and boil until mixture is an amber color.
- Add berry puree and butter and whisk until dissolved.
- Strain puree and serve over panna cotta.
Enjoy!
I made this Lavender Panna Cotta with poached strawberries. It was wonderful. I used the jello stars molds, and when I was ready to serve unmolded them put on a nice dish with the poached liquid & Strawberries on top.
i was really proud of myself.
Wow that sounds so impressive! This was the first time I worked with gelatin so I was proud of myself too lol
I was going to make a panna cotta today, too! Yours (or Danielle’s:) looks divine and I just bought some lavender flowers from Sprouts! I love every component of it and I know that it must taste amazing!
Thanks Lana! It does taste wonderful! The lavender is light and floral and pairs perfectly with the vanilla. I hope you make yours today!
What a fun event! Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe…the blue berry caramel topping pushes this one over the top!
This is remarkable Sam. I totally and completely love this one.
This sounds fantastic and looks just beautiful. What a cool event you got to attend. Congrats on the Top 9!
Love the idea of using blueberries to hint at that lavender color (which wouldn’t show up much, right?!)… I’m wondering if using a small amount of blueberry juice in the panna cotta itself might look cool (with a straight caramel sauce alongside?). Oooo- inspired by this, Samantha! And congrats on making Foodbuzz’s Top Nine!
The Lavender Vanilla Panna Cotta looks delicious:) I can’t wait to try it. Thanks for a great post:)
Such a great dessert for entertaining! Looks so pretty with the berries!
Thank you so much!
I am growing lavendar this year and really ecited about infusing it into a lot of things – this is perfect! I adore panna cotta!
Thank you! What a lovely recipe!
This sounds wonderful! I love lavender in desserts and in a creamy panna cotta would be wonderful! That berry caramel is the perfect finish!
Oh how I love panna cotta! I need to work with lavender more, this really sounds gorgeous together:-) How exciting to meet Danielle too, looks like it was a fun event:-) Hugs, Terra