Chocolate and Cinnamon Panna Cotta with Florentine Cookies

Over the weekend I completed my first Daring Bakers challenge. This is my second Daring KITCHEN challenge, but my first time as a Daring Baker. The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

I’d never made a Panna Cotta before this challenge. While I liked the look of the Giada recipe we were all given, I’ve been hoarding Donna Hay cookbooks and magazines for quite a while, and wanted to try her version first. And since I’d just picked up some cinnamon chips at the market, I wanted to incorporate them, so here’s my ever-so-slightly modified version of Donna Hay’s recipe:

Chocolate (and Cinnamon!) Panna Cotta
4 cups cream
3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 oz milk chocolate
2 oz cinnamon chips
2 tsp gelatin
1/4 cup water


Place the cream, sugar, and vanilla in a saucepan and bring up to a slow simmer, stirring occasionally until the liquid has reduced by 1/3. Add the chocolate and cinnamon chips, and stir until smooth. Place gelatin in a bowl with the water and let sit for 5 minutes. Place the gelatin mixture in a saucepan over low heat until the gelatin has dissolved. Then stir it into the hot cream mixture and simmer for 1 minute. Pour into ramekins or bowls and refrigerate for 4-6 hours. Finish with sea salt if desired. (I desired. I love my chocolate with salt.) While my Panna Cotta was a little loose, it was no less delicious. Seriously delicious.