7/05/2010

Passion Fruit Panna Cotta

I'd love to give a huge shout-out to the people who inspired my kitchen creativity from a very young age: Gourmet Grandpa & Grandma!
I have a special treat for you! Gourmet Grandma & Grandpa are guest posting this week with their favorite spin on dishes from their favorite Disney restaurant! You can see where I got my love of creating in the kitchen and having fun. I love you, mom and dad!

Passion Fruit Panna Cotta from Gourmet Grandpa!

One of the joys of traveling is to try new foods, then see if you can recreate your favorites at home. On our recent trip to the Boma restaurant at Disney World, Gourmet Grandpa was quite taken with the Passion Fruit Panna Cotta - in fact before the evening was over he was taken several extra trips back to the dessert bar for more.

It turns out this has to be one of the simplest dessert recipes anyone could imagine. Here's how we recreated them:

Ingredients:
1 packet unflavored gelatin
3 Tbs. water
3/4 c. heavy cream
1 can frozen passion fruit juice (or your favorite tropical juice)
Wafer or sandwich cookies

Instructions:
In a small bowl, dissolve one packet of gelatin in 3 tablespoons of water. In a saucepan, combine 3/4 cups of cream with one can of frozen passion fruit juice and add the dissolved gelatin.
Heat and stir the mixture until the gelatin is dissolved and the mixture is creamy (no need to boil). That's it!
This is a really rich dessert, so you might want to try small servings. You could pour the mixture into a tartlet pan (like a small cupcake pan) or into small bowls or glasses. Chill for several hours before serving (or if you're in a hurry you can use the Colorado quick chill method shown:)).
Another serving idea is to take Oreo or other sandwich cookies, scrape the frosting out of the middle, and use the cookies to make an hors d'oeuvres style dessert. Enjoy!

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