Panna Cotta is a really popular dessert. How could it not be? Easy to make, delicious to eat, and it allows for a wide variety of variations to be tested and tasted. So here is my own take on the classic: the Panna Cotta Irish Coffe Style. If you are not a New Yorker, you may wonder how on earth will I justify putting Ireland and Italy so close to each other. Here is how it happened. I had the basic recipe for Panna Cotta, and wanted to add coffee to it. So I though about adding whiskey as a reminder of Irish Coffee. Not in the Panna Cotta of course… hence the sauce! Now on to the recipe:
Ingredients for 4:
For the Panna Cotta:
- 50 cl of double cream (that’s Heavy whipping cream for you Americans
) - 10 cl of milk
- 4 sheets of gelatin (might come from porcine origin)
- Strong liquid coffee according to your taste (no coffer powder or beans. Make your percolator work)
For the sauce:
- 200g brown sugar
- a bit of water
- 20 cl of whipping cream
- a drizzle, a dash or a splash of whiskey, according to your taste
Preparation:
You need to make the panna cotta 6 hours before serving. To do so, let the gelatin sheets soften in a bowl of cold water. Then put the cream, the milk and the coffee in a pan and heat it without letting it boil (seriously don’t! It happened to me and it is a pain to clean :p ). When the liquid reaches the boiling stage, take off the stove. Take the gelatin off the water and press it dry. Add it to the warm liquid and stir it until the gelatin has completely melted. Put the mixture in bowls, glasses or whatever. Now, in the fridge for 6 h.
The sauce is best prepared roughly 2h before serving, it allows you to refrigerate it for a better taste. So: put the brown sugar into a pan with a bit of water and let it caramelize without taking your eyes off of it! When the caramel is done, add the whiskey carefully (it provokes a foam reaction with the caramel, be careful not to overflow you pan). Take off the fire, stir the liquid cream in, put in a bowl. Store in the fridge for at least one hour.
To serve: flip the panna cotta molds into plates. To help it set nicely, you can use a knife blade around the panna cotta to separate it from the mold. Add the sauce on top of it and around it. Decorate with a physalis fruit (groundcherry) or coffe beans, and serve 
