February 2011 - Panna Cotta

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.

Well, I'm a Girl Guide leader up here in Canada. I run a Pathfinder group which is girls who are 12-14. For those who are wondering, yes I am insane for choosing to spend time with a dozen girls that age. This past week we were doing a Murder Mystery Dinner Party. The Murder Mystery was Pasta, Pistols, and Passions - an Italian mystery! Perfect! I have an Italian dessert that I need to make and now I had a place to take it.

I whipped up the cookies first a few nights prior. Now, I would have to argue that this is not a recipe for Florentines. Florentines have almonds in them. In my opinion, the recipe we were given was for Oatmeal Lace cookies. Which I make often. And are delicious. They just aren't Florentines.

Now, rule number one - don't use rolled oats. Oops. It's what I had, so I went with it! But they turn out so much better with Quick Oats! I wasn't a huge fan of the cookie recipe - they really didn't turn out. I'm not sure if it was just my oven or the fact that I used rolled oats (well, I know it was partially that) or something else, but they really didn't turn out well.

The Panna Cotta was quick and easy and turned out beautifully! I haven't made Panna Cotta before - just lots of Bavarians. So I was a little nervous about how little gelatin there was in the recipe, but they turned out just right.

The morale of the story is that 12-14 year old girls love any cookie, no matter how good or bad. But gelatin-ized milk? Not a winner. I think maybe 2 of them were brave enough to actually taste it. The rest just looked at it and played with it in the cups and went, "Ewwww." I guess next time I'll save the Panna Cotta for a Murder Mystery with adults.

Now for a few pictures!

It's with cookie doughs like this that I REALLY appreciate having a cookie scoop.



Spreading the chocolate on the cookies. I've got some baked cookies in the background and a few already made in the container.



Completed cookies. I found they baked way too much on the edges and not enough in the middle. Again, not totally sure if it was just my oven or was something else.



Finished Panna Cotta. Sorry, forgot to take pictures so I snapped this one at our Murder Mystery Party. I just did them up in plastic cups. I was going to do a lemon gelee on top but ran out of time. Next time I guess! Maybe the girls would have been more willing to try them with that. Oh well!