Dear Reader, have you ever been afraid of your fridge? A few months ago I was terrified of opening my fridge as it contained within its four chilled walls 6-7 litres of jiggling jelly. It was a distinctly wobbly reminder of my recent jelly escapades where I had made an underwater jelly cake. Mr NQN had steadfastly refused to commit to consuming any more jelly after hoovering through three litres of the stuff. I didn’t want to give him PTSD of jelly but I did have a recipe I wanted to try – a cousin of jelly dare I say: the panna cotta. I didn’t know if he would reject it under the umbrella of “too much wobbliness in one year” or whether he would give this a go.
It was a little while back when I was invited to a special lunch organised by Nespresso to launch their new Kazaa limited edition blend where Masterchef season one contestant and now caterer Justine Schofield cooked us a coffee themed meal. There was a tender venison fillet with a coffee and red wine sauce and dessert, a vanilla and honey panna cotta with a coffee caramel sauce. And I was very happy to see among the goodie bag delights was Justine’s recipe for the vanilla and honey panna cotta.
I found that the recipe quantity of four gelatine leaves was too strong-perhaps she meant gold gelatine leaves but I had titanium so I’ve given the recipe with an adjustment for that desirable wobbly booby effect.
Justine Schofield
The panna cotta is creamy with a lovely sweetness from honey and a lovely crunch from the toffee. It is also one of the most perfect dinner party recipes as it can all be done ahead of time with a very easy assembly just before it needs to be served. Was Mr NQN smitten? Well if smitten involves hoovering up every serve of it then yes. It was as if his earlier magic trick of magically hoovering up jelly had never occurred. Does that mean with a new year, I had a new jelly quota? 
So tell me Dear Reader, what’s the dish that you made the most last year?
Vanilla and Honey Panna Cotta with Coffee Caramel Sauce
Adapted from recipe by Justine Schofield
- 4 tablespoons runny honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
- 400ml cream
- 100ml milk
- 2 titanium gelatine leaves
Coffee and Caramel sauce
- 220g caster sugar
- 180ml cream
- 100g butter
- 40ml coffee
Coffee and Almond Brittle
- 3/4 cup caster sugar
- 4 tablespoons water
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds
- 1 capsule of Nespresso coffee grounds
You will also need 6x 125ml/4 fl oz. molds lightly oiled
1. Make the brittle: place the almonds in a dry pan on medium heat. Swirl them in the pan for 3 minutes or until they start to get some colour. Line a baking tray with baking paper and scatter the toasted almonds.
2. Make the toffee for the brittle by adding the sugar and water into a small saucepan over a moderate heat. Let the sugar dissolve and bring to the boil, simmering until it starts to turn golden brown. Tip over the almonds ensuring that it spreads over the almonds while it is liquid as it will set quickly. Take a few pinches of the Nespresso coffee capsule (or you could use any finely ground coffee) and sprinkle over the top. Cool completely in a dry area and once hard, break into some larger pieces. Place the rest in a food processor or in a ziplock bag and crush with a rolling pin to get little crumbs of toffee.
3. Make the panna cotta. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for a few minutes until soft. In a medium saucepan on medium heat, heat the cream, milk, honey and vanilla bean seeds until heated through but not boiling. Remove from heat and squeeze gelatine to get rid of excess water and stir in thoroughly combining. Pour into the oiled molds and once cool, place in the fridge to set for about 1-2 hours.
4. Make the coffee sauce. Heat the sugar in a saucepan until dark golden in colour. Remove from the heat and add the cream, coffee and butter. Whisk well until all the ingredients have come together. Place in the fridge to cool.
5. When ready to serve, unmold the panna cotta onto a place, swirl some coffee caramel sauce around it and then sprinkle over with some praline brittle and place a shard on top.
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69 Comments | Add your own
Happy New Year Lorraine!
And what a way to kick it off… with a sweet treat like this. Lovely dessert.
Magda
That’s hilarious how much jello you had, and poor Mr NQN had to have so much. Damn, wish I was around to help him, I love jello! And as a result I also adore panna cotta… has to be nice and wobbly, I’ve had some dry almost hard stuff before and that just ain’t right!
Wonderful! That flavor combo is just heavenly.
Cheers,
Rosa
I really adore panna cotta and I think it’s on an entirely different level to jelly, I would be quite happy to hoover this delicious looking one as well. I did have a giggle remembering your jelly story.
These look and sound amazing! Vanilla and honey fit together perfectly
Darn it, that’s not going to do my NY resolution to lose some weight any good! It looks sublime!
Great story! And, I love the panna cotta. I can’t think of anything that I made too much of last year but I definitely made too few chocolate desserts and too few artichoke-related dishes. I am on a quest to eat more artichokes this year.
lol,”wobbly booby effect”.
Could you use gelatine powder? Currently out of leaves, and I’d love to give this a go.
Oh, and the dish I cooked most?
The dreaded pavlova
Not dreaded so much because of difficulty level, but at the time my electric mixer was on the fritz, and I whipped about 6 litres of meringue by hand.
Great post!
oh boy that looks delightful indeed!!!! I probably made cheesecake the most last year – normally because that is what Mr BBB requests!!!
This panna cotta sounds so delicate and heavenly! Wonderful with the coffee caramel and the almond brittle!
This looks and sounds deliscious – love your description of the wobbliness of the pannacotta. Last year, I think stir fry was my most frequent dish – although because of my blog, nothing gets much of a regular rotation.
Pasta – I’m so sick of it! This looks delicious
You’ve got me craving jelly, Lorraine!
The dish I made the most last year would have to have been … soup in my slowcooker.
Fortunately Mr SSG and I never seemed to tire of eating it with toast.
SSG xxx
That look delicious – I do love a panna cotta – not at all like a jelly!
I am guilty of making TOO much – always too many leftovers – I must think I’m feeding an army – must reduce the amounts this year!
This looks absolutely lovely. I adore pannacotta and my loved ones beg for it but I always find myself making excuses as I once had a cream burning incident (i was distracted by a recipe book!) and it has put me off for life!
I have cooked a ridiculous amount of my grandmother’s recipe cheese, leek and potato pie this year as we’ve been feeding friends with leftovers and it’s a good hot potato dish!
Happy 2011! I love catching up with your writing every day – will you be bringing your book to the UK?
x x x
This looks delicious. I must try.
Happy New Year Lorraine!
The Panna Cotta is looking great, I love the combo vanilla-coffee-caramel.
Definitely a keeper
Dario
Lovely recipe, Lorraine. I would crawl over broken glass for a good panna cotta!
I’ve never been scared of my fridge, but there were times (early on!) when I was scared to open The Man’s fridge…
Yummo…..this looks delicious!
My family loves my ricotta,blueberry and buttermilk pancake recipe, I made it whenever we were all together for breakfast.
That looks fantastic, just love pannacotta! I think everyone got sick of my pavlovas in 2010!
One word. YUM! It looks so fab Lorraine. I especially love the retro moulds
I did a lot of tarts last year. Pastry and I didnt really see eye to eye so I was determined to get it right. I finally got there in the end and can now whip up a tart at a moments notice as I have some pastry in the freezer as a spare haha
That looks so gorgeous, I love the plate it is served on too!
Caramel and coffee and nuts Yum!! Its a match made in heaven. My poor hubby gets the job of eating all the dishes I make too, mistakes and all
Happy New Year to you and Mr NQN, Lorraine!!! This panna cotta looks sooooo good and I seriously have nothing against many wobbly bits… in my fridge. No where else
This looks absolutely delightful.
Loving toffee and caramel at the moment, so this has set my heart a-racin’
Even though I don’t cook I’ve always wanted to make a panna cotta, so thanks for the easy recipe! Looks so great!
I have yet made a panna cotta. It is like threading into danger zone.
Admittedly not a jelly person, but that does look lovely.
Dishes made the most were minestrone soup (to survive cold Canberra winters) and tofu and vegie stirfry. Best meals invented, and now totally perfected. Nor will I ever get sick of them.
Yum that looks delicious. I think I’d be too scared to attempt the fancy mold first up though.
I made flourless chocolate cake at least once a month last year. That’s probably the recipe that came out the most.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE panacotta and this version looks divine.
Last year I overdosed on Toblerone mini-cheesecake. They’re too easy to make and way too easy to eat!
I had a lot of jelly last year too! Most of it was konjac but it was still a jelly-ful year. I find it easier to control my cravings with jelly.
Your panna cotta came out perfect, Lorraine! I love the sound of that fantastic coffee caramel sauce with it!
I have been telling Ben recently how much I want to make panna cotta. This looks so yummy. I love the idea of adding honey too. hmmm, I think last year I made a whole lot of soup! I would have to say chicken stock-y soup.
Heidi xo
ABSOLUTELY YUM, TRUE!
Another thing to add to my “List To Do!”
Thank you for once again inspiring me!
Combination of ingredients, does IT for me!
Coffee almond brittle. Oh, dear heavens, I like the sound of that extemely muchly!
Oh, and if MR NQN is against wobbly desserts, I would have welcomed his eating that chocolate panna cotta I blogged recently, which was all but rock-solid! :S
I love a good wobble! A good pannacotta is like eating velvet, yumm…
sometimes I am well and truly afraid of my fridge, because it’s always jammed full of goodies and they try to jump out at me saying ‘eat me, No me, no me!’. Or perhaps that’s just what I want to hear? My most made dish last year, was cakes, cakes, cakes. For home my family gets lots of Asian food, and Thai curries made from scratch- can’t be replicated from a tin.
Yummy … except for great No Go Area in our home, of nuts.
I made loads of spaghetti bolognaise and lasagne last year because the kids love it. Also ice cream sundaes and milk shakes for dessert.
for the like of me i cannot find gelatin leaves anywhere in melbourne, ive frustrated my search, can someone please help me, i live in the western suburb .
thank you
That recipe really doesn’t do the diet any good, but then if you only posted health recipes, it wouldn’t be NQN!
The think I cooked the most in 2010 was slow cooked lamb roasts and roast chicken. Boring but true. I did mix up the coatings/stuffings, sides though.
The hallmark of an irresitable pannacotta is in the “sexy” wobble! The way it shimmies on the plate,it’s a tease to the eye and the sensation of flavour,silky smoothe,delicate and sweet drapes upon your pallette,its true romance!
I am definitely putting this on “must make ” list for 2011.
The dish most made in 2010 was the chocolate nemesis cake from ruth rodgers and rose gray.
I have actually made quite a few panna cottas in the last year. I love it, and it is relatively easy to make.
I love the sound of these panna cotta. I’ve never worked with gelatin leaves before – I wonder if I can even find them here? I will definitely try. I think the dessert I made the most last year was cheesecake, it is always cheesecake. I don’t even like them that much but everyone seems to request them. I need to break out of the mold this year.
I’ve always wanted to try making panna cotta, but I never know how to convert the amount of gelatin to how much agar agar I should use (because I’m vegetarian I don’t eat gelatine…bye bye lollies!). Does anyone have an idea? Or would the agar agar make it set too hard?
Yummo! Love the idea of vanilla and honey panna cotta, i’ve only ever made plain vanilla. I will have to try this however im not a fan of coffee so I might try a different sauce. Last year I made a whole lot of rice pudding, in fact im thinking with all this cold weather I might get cracking on some more 2011 comfort food
I am a newbee
And am quietly (well was quietly!) enjoying my daily NQN fix.
My dish for last year is Banoffee Pies, I make them all sizes now and with a few little tweaks I think I’ve got a winner… So the taste testers tell me anyway!
Let’s not talk about the Christmas Day incident when an unnamed family member dropped it out of the fridge after it took me 2 hours of constant stirring to make the Manjar Blanco!
Ohhh yeah, know the feeling. There’s only so much wobbliness a girl can feel comfy eating, but I’ve gotta say this does look goooooood
Nice one.
Wow this looks divine Lorraine! I do love a sexy wobble to my panacotta and that can be hard to achieve if you haven’t practiced with brand of gelatine you happen to use on the day – so thanks for the adjustment!
Happy New Year and hope the year ahead is full of more exciting food adventures for you
That looks heavenly. Must try it when I get back to Australia. My most cooked dishes last year were Hainanese Chicken Rice, Hokkien noodles and chocolate chip cookies. I think I cooked the first two dishes at least once every 2 weeks. My husband and kids love them but I’m sick of it! Choc chip cookies as they’re easy, yummy and make a good going round for a playdate gift.
i won’t lie–coffee caramel sauce is something for which i’d stoop to lick my plate. wowza.
Wow that looks fab! I sometimes find panna cotta a bit boring when it is plain vanilla flavour with a raspberry coulis. Been there… BUT a honey panna cotta sounds delicious – will definitely try it!
Yummo!! This looks fantastic! Happy New Year L!
I love panna cotta probably more than jelly! It’s funny because even your food looks stylish! For some reason the colour and the shape just looks so..chic and professional. Well done!
I look forward to seeing more of your fabulous recipes throughout 2011.
That panna cotta looks gorgeous. I’m not too big a fan of jiggly jelly things, but the flavors on this one sounds so good, I’m iching to make and try it!
I adore panna cotta and made it several times last year…often with herbal flavors. A couple weeks ago I had a maple panna cotta with a meringue on top at a Miami restaurant and I am definitely going to make it next fall! It was divine.
The recipe I made the most? You aren’t going to believe it, but my roasted edamame/corn salad won the prize.
Happy New Year, Lorraine!
What a beautiful panna cotta! Love the flavours you’ve used.
*kisses* HH
Happy New Year to you too, Lorraine
This panna cotta look amazing! Love the plating and the coffee caramel sauce!
Lovely flavors! I’ve been meaning to try panna cotta for a while. We only have powdered gelatin so I probably need to tinker around a bit before getting the ideal consistency.
Oh yum honey panna cotta sounds so dreamy.
I’m not sure which dish I made most – My bf likes fairly staple things like bangers and mash or spaghetti bolognese so probably one of those things.
Yum, I love panna cotta! Yours looks beautiful
I made way too much pasta in general last year *snore*, and haloumi & lentil salad.
I love wobbly jellies – the wobblier the better!
I recently made a coconut and pomegranate panna cotta: so good. In fact any panna cotta is good.
This recipe looks like a keeper, will have to try it out sometime. I quite liked Justine in season 1, and am glad she’s gone on to do well in the food industry.
Most cooked dish this year grilled rump steaks with celery salt and cracked pepper. New favourite for this year: slow roasted lamb shoulder. I used to loathe panna cotta but my husband made a yummy Egg Nog panna cotta during the holidays that I loved. This Vanilla and Honey Panna Cotta sounds like one I might actually like too, thanks!
Mmmm…this is such an elegant dessert. It sounds delicious as well! The coffee caramel sauce together with the coffee almond brittle pair perfectly with the creamy panna cotta. Yum!
This looks devine! This year my most-cooked dish would have to be chicken burritos, around once a week and I’m still not sick of it!
caramel and pannacotta are not in my repertoire but the thought of your fridge full of jelly makes me laugh – I am sure there is a great cartoon in that! my fridge is usually full these days – probably worse since I started to keep gf flours in there
I love your panna cotta moulds Lorraine! Sounds delicious.
I’m not a fan of jelly but this kind of wobbliness is more my scene!
My most cooked dish would have to be chilli prawn pizza
this is such an elegant dessert:) love the flavor combo in here it sounds just heavenly.
Yum!
Looks delicious. I am not a fan of jelly at all, but love pannacotta.
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