February 27, 2011

February Daring Bakers’ Challenge: Butterscotch and white chocolate panna cotta and Florentine Cookies



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 was very excited when I read that this month challenge was going to be about one of my all times favorite desserts: panna cotta. I have a well tested panna cotta recipe but I am always happy to try new ones so I was totally in for this challenge.


I chose to make a butterscotch panna cotta, so I used the recipe that Mallory gave us adapted from Bon Appetit, using butterscotch chocolate chips. I also decided to keep the panna cotta simple and just topped it with white chocolate glaze to contrast two types of chocolate. I have to admit I was a little disappointed by the panna cotta I got. The taste was good but the consistency was not quite right. After letting it sit in the fridge overnight it was still too soft. It worked out well because I did not have to unmold it. But had I put it in ramekins and tried to unmold it, I think I would have made a disaster.

What I really enjoyed instead were the Florentine Cookies, which I also drizzled with white chocolate glaze to match the panna cotta. While I was making them, I was feeling unsure about their consistency and instead we loved them! This recipe is for sure a keeper. All in all, thus, I was very happy with this month challenge….and I sure needed this after last month disaster J


Chocolate Panna Cotta
Ingredients

240 ml (8 fl oz or 1 cup) whole milk
15 ml (1 tbsp) unflavored powdered gelatin
480 ml (16 fl oz or 2 cups) whipping cream
115 g (4 oz) sugar
145 g (5 oz or ¾ cup) butterscotch chocolate chips
2 ml (½ tsp) vanilla extract


Method

                  Pour the milk into a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over the top, and set aside for 2-5 minutes.
                   
                  Place a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir in the cream, the sugar and the vanilla extract. Bring to a low boil.

                   
                  Add the chocolate chips and whisk until melted. Whisk the milk/gelatin mixture into chocolate cream mixture. Whisk until gelatin has dissolved.
                   
                  Pour into glasses, cover and let chill for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit




White Chocolate Glaze
Ingredients

1 cup white chocolate (use good quality one!)
3 tbsp whipping cream


Method

Heat the whipping cream in a small pot or in the microwave. Pour the hot cream over the white chocolate and stir until the chocolate is completely melted.

I used the glaze both as an additional thin layer on top of the panna cotta, as well as to drizzle the Florentine cookies.





Nestle Florentine Cookies
Ingredients

150 g (5.3 oz or 2/3 cup) unsalted butter
2 cups
160 g (5 2/3 oz) quick oats
230 g (8 oz) sugar
95 gr (3.38 oz or 2/3 cup) all purpose flour
60 ml (1/4 cup) dark corn syrup
60 ml (1/4 cup) whole milk
5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract

pinch of salt



Method

Preheat the oven to 375°F and prepare a baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan, then remove from the heat.

To the melted butter add the oats, the sugar, the flour, the corn syrup, the milk, the vanilla extract, and the salt. Mix well.

Drop a tablespoon full, three” apart, onto your prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly with the back of your tablespoon, or use a spatula.

Bake in preheated oven for 6-8 minutes, until cookies are golden brown. (I had to bake for longer than that)

Cool completely on the baking sheets and then drizzle the tops with the chocolate glaze.

Recipe from the cookbook “Nestle Classic Recipes”, and their website.


Have a sweet day!

34 comments:

  1. This looks absolutely wonderful. The flavours of butterscotch and white chocolate and that florentine cookies... oh yum.

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  2. oh Sara

    what a wonderful dessert you have prepared! that luscious panna cotta, great choice of flavors, and those sweet little cookies....
    I really need to try your panna cotta recipe, It would be a great dessert to teach my girls!
    Dennis

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  3. That looks so beautiful! You did a fantastic job!

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  4. yummy these look fabulous
    I love desserts with whipped cream the cookies yummy and healthy

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  5. Delish! I just made panna cotta for the first time a couple weeks ago and boy it is simple and tasty. Love the combination that you put together. Oh those cookies would be something my husband would just love. Nice job!!

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  6. Yum! Very delicious flavors you chose. I love to see everyones creativity. Great job!

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  7. Beautiful looking desserts Sara! I have never made panna cotta but I think I must give it a try at least once. Well done!

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  8. Wow, this sounds like a fabulous dessert. I am dying to make panna cotta, I keep hearing how wonderful it is! I'll have to give the butterscotch a try. And I bet the cookies pair perfectly. Great job!

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  9. I've never tried panna cotta - you just may inspire me! :)

    ♥ - Katrina

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  10. This Panna Cotta is truly awesome. I love that you used butterscotch choc chips... delicious!

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  11. What beautiful cookies and panna cotta. I love that you chose to make a butterscotch and white chocolate panna cotta, what great flavors! :)

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  12. You did great, I like the flavors you chose.

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  13. Our cookies look similar: we didn't sandwich them and decorated the surface. I used bittersweet chocolate, though. I entertained the idea of making chocolate panna cotta but then the matcha in my cupboard prevailed. Nice job!

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  14. Butterscotch sounds like a great panna cotta flavour. I'll have to try it soon, I'm a little bit in love with panna cotta right now.
    I love the white chocolate drizzle on the cookies too.

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  15. Looks very elegant. You have done a great job in this challenge. Your photographs are amazing.

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  16. I sat down to blog-read this morning and have seen quite a few panna cottas! Secretly, yours looks the best. I love the idea of the butter scotch!

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  17. I love the flavors in your panna cotta, so beautiful. The crispy cookies would taste so good with creamy panna cotta. I have to make it.

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  18. I've seen quite a few panna cottas today, but so far you are the only one with this awesome flavor combination :o) It looks lovely!

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  19. Mmmm butterscotch....great flavor pick. Everything looks wonderful.

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  20. You butterscotch panna cotta sounds great! This was a fun challenge, different from the past few months. Great job this month!

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  21. Now you have made my kind of breakfast. Well maybe I would wait until after dinner. I'll eat it even if it's on the soft side. Like your butterscotch addition and those crunchy cookies. Hope you have a great week.
    -Gina-

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  22. Butterscotch and white chocolate sounds like such an awesome combination. These look fantastic...great job with the challenge!

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  23. I'm a day late to the party, but I'm glad I showed up because this looks amazing. I LOVE panna cotta and can't imagine anyone's recipe that I'd trust more than yours. Plus, it's the right chocolate. I'll have to try those cookies if you recommend them so highly. They look scrumptious. (Regarding my chocolate post, I'm FEMALE right now. VERY female. Get it?)

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  24. Looks like you aced this challenge! Yum Yum!

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  25. I've never had panna cotta but it look delicious! I am going to have to try it!

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  26. I think both the panna cotta and the florentines look delicious, but I am sorry that the consistency disappointed you. I bet it still tasted wonderful!

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  27. I've been seeing these darn florentine cookies all over the blogosphere and I want some! On a related note, I've never had panna cotta so I'll take some of that too :)

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  28. The butterscotch and white chocolate is a great flavor combo! Great job on the challenge this month:)

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  29. I love that you served your panna cotta in glasses. They look like a decadent drink. I wondered why I was seeing so many panna cotta blog posts in the blogosphere and I guess Daring Bakers was the answer. I'd like a serving of your panna cotta and a few of those Florentine cookies after dinner. :-)

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  30. ooh I love your flavors! So when are you going to make your way to Texas for some baking!?

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  31. butterscotch & white chocolate...oh, yeah!!

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  32. Great job on the challenege this month! It's too bad the consistancy of your panna cotta wasn't spot on, because it looks great! I haven't had the best of luck with florentine cookies before, so I'll have to give this recipe a go.

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  33. Ciao Sara! Your panna cotta looks amazing. I love butterscotch. So nice to have white chocolate drizzle on the Florentine's. They look so crispy and perfect;)

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