Italian delight .. Strawberry Pannacotta

Strawberry Pannacotta 

Today I got a call from my friends saying they are visiting us.. Now what do I do in desserts for them. I wanted something that is delicious but could be done quickly. Ok then came to my mind this delicious dessert named Pannacotta. It is an Italian dessert made up of cream, milk, sugar and some flavor.  We are making strawberry flavored  pannacotta. You can also use coconut, plain vanilla or pineapple flavor based on your choice.

So let’s start with the recipe ☺️.

It goes like this.

1) Heat the milk, cream and sugar mixture. 

Take 1 cup milk, 2 cup fresh cream and 1/4th cup sugar. You easily get cream in India (You can use Amul Fresh Cream). I used heavy whipped cream instead. Heat it until everything is mixed well.. 

2) Put the above cream mixture aside in a bowl.

3) Dissolve gelatin/agar agar in water. 

Take about 1 tsp of gelatin powder in little water (use cold water) and let it dissolve. Then mix it well. Keep it for 5 minutes. It will become a sponge like paste with the all water absorbed.

Gelatin helps binding milk and cream well and gives a jelly effect to your dessert.

(You can easily get gelatin in baking section of any grocery store. If you are a vegetarian you can use agar-agar instead. Follow the same process for it.)

4) Cut 3-4 fresh strawberries in very small pieces. Remove the stem. Keep them aside.

5) Add ½ cup of strawberry crush in the cream mixture. Mix well.

You can easily get ready made strawberry crush in grocery stores. If not, you can make it at home yourself.  I made it at home. Recipe for strawberry crush is given below at the end of this recipe.

6) Add 1 tsp gelatin and mix well. Can add more gelatin (2 tsp) if you are not worried about fat 

7) Pannacotta mixture is ready.

Take 8 silicon moulds or dessert cups (if you do not want to unmould it and serve it directly in the cup) 

Put some fresh strawberry pieces in each mould. Pour the pannacotta mixture in the moulds. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours. 

I kept it in deep freeze for quick and good results.  You can have it ready in 15-20 minutes.

You can unmould it easily after sometime by keeping it in normal refrigerator mode or outside.  (I   kept it in refrigerator mode for some time and then unmoulded it.)

So, enjoy the quick dessert with your friends and family. :-)

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Recipe for strawberry crush:

1) Take 2 cups grained sugar, 2 cups water and a pinch of citric acid. Heat it until it becomes a sugar syrup with two strands like we do in gulab jamun. 

2) Take 10-12 strawberries or more for more concentration. Clean them. Remove stem. Crush these in a crusher/mixer.

3) Once the sugar syrup is thick (two strand level –forms two strands when you stretch it with two of your fingers) add the crushed strawberries to it. Let the mixture heat till it thickens again. Strawberry crush is ready.

4) You can add 2 drops of strawberry essence for flavor. (Can skip this if not available at home).

5) If you want to preserve it for longer, add sodium benzoate (skip it if you want to use it immediately) and put it in an air tight container.