Vanilla Rum Panna Cotta with Salted Caramel

This is a recipe from Ina Garten’s cookbook, “Cooking for Jeffrey”. It is awesomely delicious. Very rich, creamy and the yogurt gives it just the right tang. I love The Barefoot Contessa and have been following her for years. I made this dessert to celebrate Bonnie and Francine’s birthdays, a monthly tradition among our canasta ladies. Nine from our canasta group gathered to join in the fun. I usually make a cake, but thought this would be something a little different. I doubled the recipe and it made 12 generous servings. If you don’t need this much; just cut everything in half.

It is not at all difficult to make. The salted caramel gives it a real wow factor. I will warn you, this recipe does contain a lot of heavy cream!

Here is the salted caramel Ina recommended, which was delicious. I bought it online. You can, of course, make your own caramel, but Fran’s was perfect. I used the whole jar to top the panna cottas.

Panna Cotta is an Italian dessert of sweetened cream, thickened with gelatin and often molded. Panna cotta means “cooked cream” in Italian and essentially you simply heat cream (light, heavy, milk, or a combination), add sugar, and add gelatin so it sets up.

I made a molded panna cotta with raspberry coulis a few years ago for one of our Easter extravaganzas. I liked the way Ina’s looked in the rocks glasses so that is what I did for the birthday girls.

Start by sprinkling gelatin over 6 Tbsp. of cold water. Stir and set aside for 10 minutes to allow the gelatin to dissolve.

While this is dissolving, whisk together half of the cream (3 cups), the yogurt (4 cups), vanilla extract and seeds from 2 vanilla beans.

Use a good quality, full-fat yogurt.

Heat the remaining 3 cups of cream and the sugar and bring to a simmer over medium heat.

Do not let the cream/sugar mixture boil; just gently simmer. Off the heat, stir the softened gelatin into the heated cream mixture. Pour the cream/sugar mixture into the yogurt mixture and stir in 6 Tbsp. of rum. Mix well.

I used equal portions of dark rum and spiced rum. Ina uses all dark rum.

The mixture will be quite loose, but not thin. Ina’s recipe did not suggest straining the mixture before pouring into serving glasses, but I did and suggest you do, as well. Besides the beautiful taste, what makes panna cotta so magical is the texture and the straining removes any little imperfection giving you the smoothest, creamiest finish.

Once strained, pour the panna cotta into serving glasses and refrigerate until cold. When the panna cottas are thoroughly chilled, cover with plastic wrap and allow to chill overnight.

Before serving, heat the caramel sauce with 4 tsp. of rum (again equal portions of dark and spiced) until just warm. Spoon a thin layer of warm caramel on each cold panna cotta, sprinkle with fleur de sel or Maldon sea salt flakes.

This dessert does not disappoint!

We’ve had a lot of rain in southern Arizona and our cactus are blossoming like crazy!

Keep cool! Stay happy! And keep cooking in your own kitchens!

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Vanilla Rum Panna Cotta with Salted Caramel

Rich, creamy deliciousness! The salted caramel is the finishing touch to balance the sweetness of these panna cottas.

Ingredients

• 2 packets Unflavored gelatin; 4 tsps.
• 6 cups Heavy cream, divided
• 4 cups Plain whole-milk yogurt
• 4 tsp. Vanilla extract
• 2 Vanilla beans, seeds scraped out
• 1 1/2 cups Sugar
• Dark and spiced rum; about 1/3 cup in total, but divided by measurements; see below.
• 1/2 cup Good quality caramel sauce; such as Fran's
• Maldon sea salt or Fleur de sel for garnishing the caramel

Instructions

• In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over 6 Tbsp. of cold water. Stir and set aside for 10 minutes to allow the gelatin to dissolve.
• Meanwhile, in a large bowl whisk together 3 cups of the heavy cream, 4 cups of yogurt, 4 tsp. vanilla extract and the seeds from 2 vanilla beans.
• Heat the remaining 3 cups of heavy cream and the sugar in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
• Off the heat, stir the softened gelatin into the hot cream; stir until dissolved.
• Next, pour the cream/gelatin mixture into the yogurt mixture; and 6 Tbsp. of rum (3 each of dark and spiced) and whisk until well combined.
• Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve.
• Pour into 12 serving glasses and refrigerate uncovered until cold. When the panna cottas are thoroughly chilled, cover with plastic wrap and allow to chill overnight.
• Before serving, heat the caramel sauce with 4 tsp. rum (2 each dark and spiced) in a small saucepan over low heat; just until warm. Spoon a thin layer of warm caramel sauce on each cold panna cottage, sprinkle with salt and serve.