Mango Panna Cotta

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This layered mango panna cotta is an absolutely delicious yet easy to put together dessert. A perfect way to use mangoes during summer and wow your guests.

Mango panna cotta with recipe video

I love panna cotta as a dessert. It is an easy to put together dessert, and always loved by everyone. What’s not to love- a luscious creamy pudding that you can prep in advance. Plus, it tastes great with fresh ripe fruits like strawberries, cherries, peaches and in this case mango.

Panna cotta is also easily adaptable to fit many dietary restrictions. It is gluten free in its most simple form, and with a few easy dairy replacements can be made vegan too.

So, what is Panna Cotta?

Panna cotta is an italian dessert, made from warming cream just enough to dissolve sugar and gelatin. It is served chilled, and is super easy to make. Panna cotta can be a very light, soft pudding using milk and fruit puree, or a rich, thick pudding using mostly cream. The basic core ingredients are inexpensive, and yet it tastes luxurious and looks beautiful.

Wikipedia cites the origins of panna cotta to a Hungarian woman in the early 1900s, though there is also a mention of a dish in an 1879 dictionary made of cream cooked with gelatin and molded. Whatever the origins, panna cotta is one dessert you should have in your recipe cards.

How do you make Panna Cotta?

Many are under the wrong impression that panna cotta is a complicated dessert. It isn’t. There are very few steps in the preparation of panna cotta, and the only way you can screw up is if you don’t dissolve the gelatin properly.

The steps to make panna cotta are pretty simple.

  • Warm the cream in a saucepan.
  • Add sugar, and heat the cream till the sugar dissolves. (Here is when you can get creative by infusing the cream with vanilla beans, or different spices or adding coffee or any other flavor)
  • While you are warming up the cream, soften the gelatin in a cold liquid.
  • Once the gelatin blooms, you add that to the warm cream mixture, making sure there are no lumps.
  • This mixture is then poured into molds, and allowed to set.
  • You can serve the panna cotta in the molds itself, or unmold and top it with your favorite toppings. Fresh fruit makes a lovely pairing with the creamy panna cotta.

The hardest part about making panna cotta is achieving the proper consistency and texture—it should be silky smooth and just firm, with a gentle wobble. Getting the cream to gelatin ratio helps in that. For every cup of cream, 3/4 tsp-1 tsp gelatin is the ideal ratio to get a good texture.

Mango panna cotta with recipe video

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Super Easy Banana Trifle Pudding

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banana trifle puddingSo this Banana Trifle Pudding is like my go-to, easy, no-fail recipe for a dessert that is a sure shot way to impress company or just yourself. You know, because sometimes you need that reinforcement that you are just awesome.

Its basically a vanilla cake, slathered with a generous serving of spiked up custard, a little jam, toasted walnuts and a layer of bananas, followed by the layers being repeated and then the whole thing topped with whipped cream. Delicious and no frills whipped cream.

The beauty of this dessert is the variations that could follow. You could play with the jam used. Raspberry pairs well with banana, but I have used blueberry crush as well and had amazing results. I have also used the cheap, ration brand of jam which is overtly sweet with an awful texture and I would otherwise not go near but mix it with some orange juice to add a little tang to the jam and its sweetness is reduced and the taste very much acceptable. And in the dessert a welcome ingredient.

banana trifle pudding | The Novice Housewife

 

Custard is a must, but you could make the pudding more of a banoffee by also using a little dulce de leche or a butterscotch sauce (the dulce de leche, I speak from experience, tastes heavenly). I used the powdered custard, since thats easy and less complicated. In India, there’s a brand Brown & Polson that makes it. I used the package instructions to make a free flowing custard. It was a vanilla flavored custard powder but I added some banana flavoring to it as well, for good measure. But, for true gastro-geeks go ahead make the real thing. But do add some cognac, or rum, or brandy. Because, spiked up is always better. You could also use Baileys. I have done that too. And I have not been disappointed. But then its Baileys, how can anybody be disappointed??

You could add caramelized walnuts, or just plain toasted walnuts, or just plain walnuts for an extra crunch to the dessert. Or if walnuts are not your thing, then I suggest chocolate chips, or chocolate shavings, or forget putting the chocolate in the dessert and eat it instead. I know the last option speaks to you the most. It speaks to me too.

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Blueberry jamboree

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Magnolia Bakery's Blueberry Jamboree | The Novice Housewife

Magnolia Bakery's Blueberry Jamboree | The Novice HousewifeThis dessert was introduced to me by sister-in-law. She was in New York visiting her sister and Magnolia Bakery was her favorite place to hang out. One day she called me to say that I have to find the recipe for Blueberry Jamboree. That it is THE best thing she has ever had.

Fortunately for her and for me, I found a recipe quite easily, and ever since I have been hooked.

Its fairly easy with no complicated steps. It is eggless- so if you are looking for a great dessert to feed someone who does not take eggs- this recipe is the best route to take. Its got a buttery pecan crust, a whipped cream and cream cheese filling in the centre and a blueberry pie filling topping. Believe me, you want to make this dessert and you want to make it now.

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