Easy Panna Cotta Every Time! Perfect Make-Ahead Dessert

I'm going to show you how to make panna cotta. This is one of the easiest desserts. It's perfect for parties, make-ahead friendly, and you're going to love the topping. And I am craving some panna cotta, so let's get started. It's also a really simple list of ingredients. Start by adding your milk to a saucepan and sprinkle the top with one packet of unflavored gelatin. Let that sit off the heat for about five minutes or until the gelatin softens. Now it's time to get cooking. And don't worry, there's almost no cooking required in this recipe. Set the pan over medium-low heat and stir until the gelatin dissolves and you see the mixture start to steam. It should take just four to five minutes. You don't want to boil the mixture. Just as soon as you see wisps of steam coming off the top, then you know it's time to add the cream. And make sure you use heavy whipping cream and not light cream for it to set up properly. Also add the sugar and vanilla extract. And we're using our homemade vanilla extract. It has just two ingredients and I will link to the recipe in the notes. Also make sure you add your pinch of salt. Just a little bit of salt goes a long way to balance the flavors. Whisk all of that together, then continue stirring for about five minutes or until the sugar is fully dissolved and the mixture is steaming. Again, make sure you do not boil. Take that off the heat and set it aside to cool for about five minutes. Add sour cream to a second medium mixing bowl. Make sure to use a thick sour cream like this one for your panna cotta to set properly. While whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in the slightly cooled milk mixture. Make sure to go slow, especially at first, to temper the mixture so you don't break your sour cream. Once the mixture is all really well combined, you can strain it through a fine mesh sieve. This helps to knock out some of the air bubbles, but you can also skip this step if you don't have a sieve and your panna cotta will still turn out great. Plus you won't make a mess like I did. The panna cotta filling is so good you'll want to lick all your bowls, your spoons, and your whisk. Now there's a couple ways to serve panna cotta. You can either put it into ramekins and then unmold them after they set. I've got to move fast because this is getting thick. Or you can put them into little glass containers and this is great if you're serving it at parties and you don't want to take the time to unmold. Once you have that portioned out into whatever containers you want to use, I like to set them out on a baking sheet just so they're easier to transfer. Transfer those to the refrigerator and let them fully set before serving. This takes about four to six hours, but you can cover and store them for even longer. I'm going to show you how to make my favorite panna cotta topping, which is this easy berry sauce. You can make it ahead or make it before serving. You'll need a total of two cups of berries. I'm using equal parts strawberries and raspberries. If you're using larger berries like strawberries, you'll want to chop them up. Add half of your berries to a small saucepan. Next, squeeze in half a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice and always use fresh and not concentrate for the best flavor. You'll see me use these measuring spoons a ton. I love that they stack, which makes them easier to store in the drawer. I will link to them in the notes. Finally, add a quarter cup of sugar and bring that to a boil while stirring constantly. You'll see the fruit start to release juice. Once it's at a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and continue cooking for about four to five minutes or until it's thickened up and syrupy. Then take it off the heat. Let that cool slightly and then you can use it right away or store it covered in the refrigerator for later. This berry sauce is so good on everything from cheesecake to panna cotta and breakfast. Okay, we are gonna do the taste test. Our panna cotta is set. It's thickened up nicely. The beauty of this is you can even make it like three days ahead, which you will love. Our berry sauce is still pretty hot, but I can't wait any longer. You do want to let this cool normally until it's room temperature because then it won't melt your panna cotta, but I'm not gonna make you guys wait that long and I can't wait. Now, there are the two different ways of serving a panna cotta. You can either put it in fun cups and you can do any size cups. If you want to have a bunch of these for a party, you can even use those little tiny disposable ones and they look super cute on a party buffet. I can't even tell you how many times I have seen you guys do that. I just love it. If you do it, share a picture with me. I'd love to see it. If you do it like this in a ramekin, you can either serve it out of the ramekin or let me show you how to plate this. All right, this is kind of like removing a flan from the baking dish, kind of, but instead we're going to do hot water. So I've boiled some water here and you're gonna dip the panna cotta into the hot water, making sure not to go over the lid because you don't want hot water inside, and only do this for about five to ten seconds. You don't want to completely melt it. It'll just melt the very outside of the panna cotta, allowing it to slip out of the dish. So one, two, three, four. Let's do that real ten seconds. Give it another two. Okay, there we go. For good measure. I do like to dry it off a little bit so we're not drippy all over our serving plate and then take a sharp small knife and just run it around the edge. This part's not scary. Just be confident. Just go for it. It'll come out real pretty, you'll see. Go Natasha! Go Natasha! Thank you, thank you. Serving plate, and I love this color against the white. And the easiest way to do it is to just put the little plate on, even-ish, and then flip it over. And sometimes it takes a little bit of effort. You can tap on the top. You can kind of give it a little shake. You can see why this isn't my favorite method. This is so much easier. Just serve it with a spoon from the little cup. Another way is to get violent. Just don't break your dish. Okay, like this. Don't laugh at me. If you have a tip on how to do this better, I am all ears. Five minutes later. This, I don't know why it took so long. Honestly, this was a weird one. But anyway, it could happen to you. All right, and next thing, we want to top with some fresh berry sauce. And look at that. It has cooled down a little bit more, so that's good news. Okay, we're not getting everything wrong today. Okay, here we go. Just put a nice little mountain of berry sauce. Let a little bit drizzle down the sides. Oh, that's just such a winning combination right there. I'm just gonna dig into this before it further melts my panna cotta. Such a treat. You will love this. Seriously, it is the easiest dessert. So tasty. It's rich, indulgent, and everybody will be impressed. I'm telling you. Okay, here we go. And I want to get a bunch of that berry sauce on there. Okay, yummers. Oh my goodness. Oh, what was that? All kinds of things will start happening to you when you eat the panna cotta. All kinds of strange behaviors will come out. Oh my goodness. It is so good. The vanilla in there really shines. A lot of recipes actually don't have sour cream in there, but I feel like that's what makes this one so over-the-top special. It has an extra layer of flavor, because otherwise it's just like sweet vanilla cream. But this one has a little bit of like hidden tang in there. Oh, it's so good. I'm telling you, make this once and you will make it over and over and over. It is such a treat. That's my go-to method right there. Like just serve it in the cup, put the sauce on top, and serve it up. But anyway you make it, I hope you guys love it. Also, if you haven't already gotten your hands on our new cookbook, we have, check this out, a strawberry panna cotta in here. And this is actually the base is strawberry, and then there's a silky strawberry sauce. It's so good. I think this is my husband's favorite, so it's definitely worth a try. I like them all. He likes them all. There we go. I will leave a link to our book in the comments or in the notes. Let me know where you spotted Sharky. Plus, if you have any recipe requests, let me know. I'd love to hear from you in the comments, and we'll see you on the next episode of Natasha's Kitchen. Okay, come to mama. I gotta get a big old raspberry on there. Let's go. You gotta come take a bite. It's so good. Here, I'll bring it to you.