Once you master the four basic steps of making a classic Italian panna cotta, it will become of your favorite recipes to make and impress with.  What are the four steps you ask? 1) Blooming the gelatin in cold water 2) Heating up your creamy custard base along with the sweetener of your choice 3) Dissolving the bloomed gelatin into the warm custard base and, 4) Adding in your flavorings before chilling in the fridge. 

My favorite way to make the custard base is with heavy whipping cream, organic can sugar, vanilla extract, a pinch of salt, and about ½ cup of thick sour cream.  You can make the base with heavy cream alone, but whisking the rich, thick sour cream (or whole milk Greek yogurt) into the warm cream really adds a texture enhancement to each-and-every scrumptious bite.  The custard sets nicely in the fridge after about two hours of chilling, and is perfect on its own or with some lighlty macerated fruit.

For this specific panna cotta recipe, I was channeling the early signs of Spring.  First off, I love the organic whole wheat pie crusts you can get in the freezer section at Whole Foods Market.  I baked one of these crusts until lightly browned and then filled it with my panna cotta mixture that I also added almond extract to this time.  Into the fridge the panna cotta tart goes until set.  For the topping, we had some gorgerous early-season strawberries from our CSA, so I sliced those and let them macerate in the fridge along with some vanilla sugar and some fragrant rose water.  This is truly a recipe to share with your custard-craving friends and family this Spring!

(To view this recipe, click on the blue title of the blog post above*)

Tagged: almond extract, almond panna cotta, cooked cream, custard, dessert, gelatin, heavy cream, Italian, Italy, macerated berries, panna cotta, rose, rose water, rose-scented berries, sour cream, strawberries, sugar, vanilla extract, whole wheat pie crust