Once again, heavy cream was sitting in my fridge begging me to do something with it. Maybe I need to stop buying heavy cream when I don’t have a real plan to use it!

This heavy cream especially needed to be used though. It cost me about $6! I decided that panna cotta would be a good way to use it all up.

I posted about the book Patisserie in my root beer float macaron post. It has some custard recipes as well as the whole chapter about macarons.

I made a few changes to the recipe so I will go ahead and post it.

I have seen gelatin sheets in the Asian market but I have not seen them in a grocery store like Albertsons. Or maybe I haven’t looked hard enough. The original recipe calls for gelatin sheets, but I improvised and weighed out my gelatin powder instead. I ended up with 6 grams instead of 5 like I was supposed to. Oops! I didn’t want to make a mess of trying to to put back 1 gram of gelatin powder so I just went with 6 grams.

Now the gelatin does seem to set after you let it sit in the heavy cream, but once you whisk it into the hot cream mixture in the pan, it dissolves fine and does not clump or give the final product an odd texture.

The gelatin and cream had a tapioca-like texture and did not look very appetizing. I’m so glad it dissolved into the mixture properly though!

The original recipe also called for the seeds of one vanilla bean. I love baking with vanilla sugar and always have some on hand. So, instead of using a vanilla bean, I just used my vanilla sugar. If you would like to make your own vanilla sugar, here is a link to the method for that. You won’t regret it! If you do not have vanilla sugar on hand, then scrape the seeds of one vanilla bean into the cream mixture and then put the vanilla bean in there too!

One note, I am not sure how vanilla extract would work in this recipe. It’s possible that vanilla extract would not provide a strong enough flavor. I would be willing to give it a try though with my next custard recipe.

My cream mixture before boiling. The vanilla bean in the pan is a used bean from my vanilla sugar canister.

There is something wrong with this picture. I am using a round mesh colander over a square dish! One nice thing about this recipe is that I didn’t have to use ramekins, although I’m sure those would work too for this!

The hot panna cotta mixture is now ready to go in the fridge. I put plastic wrap over it and did not press it against the top like I usually do with custard.

Once I had the panna cotta in the fridge, it was time to make the caramel. This is the part that I was very, very scared to do! I have never made caramel before and was afraid I would waste my hard-earned passion fruit juice.

Passion fruits are a pain to “juice.” I got about 1/4 cup of juice out of 7 passion fruit. I let the pulp drain for a while longer after I had what I needed and did get maybe another 1/8 cup of juice. I know the seeds are edible, but I haven’t tried them yet in a dessert!

1/4 cup of vanilla sugar and another used vanilla bean.

1/4 cup of vanilla sugar does not look like very much when it is in the pan!

The sugar is starting to melt. I think you aren’t supposed to stir your sugar when you’re making caramel. But I went ahead and did it.

Not quite medium amber I think. Also, the sugar isn’t completely melted yet.

The end result after adding the passion fruit juice and water, then straining into a measuring cup.

Now, the caramel LOOKED like the right color, but it didn’t seem like it was the right texture. I thought it would be a little more “syrupy.” It ended up being okay though and tasted tart from the passion fruit.

We were bad and did not share this with the kids. The kids got mini cupcakes for dessert, while Josh and I ate the panna cotta after they went to bed. This is definitely a perfect date night at home dessert. It was a little complicated for me since I had never made it before, but next time, I should know better what I am doing. Josh wants me to make a lemon panna cotta next!

-Lynn