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Coconut Milk Strawberry Panna Cotta & Florentine Cookies with Palm sugar

27 February 2011 29 Comments

A light and colorful dessert is both a gastronomical and a visual treat, and the Coconut Milk Panna Cotta I made this weekend fits the bill. The coconut milk & strawberry jelly in it makes it very refreshing and a colorful dessert. If you can extract fresh coconut milk which I am sure I can’t, then you are in for a heavenly treat! I made this Panna cotta from Daring Bakers kitchen with my pack of ready to use coconut milk.

I reduced the cream portion and added thickened yogurt for Panna cotta and also switched to palm sugar to make my Oats and almonds Florentine cookies. And the result was a much lighter and to some extent a healthy version of this exotic dessert.

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.

Coconut Milk Panna Cotta

Coconut Milk Pinna Cotta & Florentine Cookies

Ingredients for Coconut Panna Cotta

Ingredients;

1 cup coconut milk
1/2 tbsp. china grass or Gelatin powder
½ cup cream
½ cup thickened yogurt
1 tbsp Palm sugar
1 tbsp honey

For the Strawberry jelly; Use any branded jelly crystals of strawberry flavor and make the jelly and set it in refrigerator with a few pieces of strawberry in it.

Panna cotta in individual bowls

Method; Sprinkle china grass or gelatine over the glass of milk and keep it away for a few minutes to get it dissolved. Heat the milk slightly in a saucepan until it is hot, but not boiling. Whisk it and remove it from the heat and cool it slightly.

Hang fresh curd in a muslin cloth to drain the water from it.

Pour it in the desired serving bowls or Ramekins and refrigerate for 6-7 hours or overnight.

I added a few slice of fresh strawberry in the cool milk mix and set it to cool in small individual bowls.

Florentine cookies

Ingredients for Florentine Cookies

Ingredients;

1 cup quick cooking oats
1/4 cup coarse almond powder
1/4 cup butter/oil
1/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup Palm sugar
1 tbsp. milk
A pinch of salt

In the oven..

Method; Preheat the oven to 190°C for 10 minutes. Prepare a baking sheet or parchment paper.

Melt butter in a saucepan and remove from heat. Add rest of the ingredients into the oil/butter and mix well. Drop a tablespoon full of this batter on the prepared baking sheet. Flatten it slightly with the back of your tablespoon.

Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool them completely.

Coconut Milk Panna Cotta & Florentine Cookies

Colorful Panna cotta and crisp Florentine cookies!

: Shinning beauties!

My kids enjoyed the colorful dessert, the strawberry jelly and the slices of the fruit in between it.

A slice of scrumptious dessert...

Notes;

I have reduced the quantity of cream to a large extend since I wanted to get a healthy version of my Panna cotta. You can use the recipe from the Daring baker host to get a creamy version of it.
Since the cream was less I could get a much firmer texture of my coconut strawberry Pana ncotta.
Palm sugar in the Florentine cookies gave a very flavorful cookie. I should have flattened the cookies even more for a much crisper cookies. Though the color was slightly on the brown shade and the cookies were a bit chewy, but I could enjoy the goodies guilt free
Though yogurt or curd in the Panna cotta is not a very wise replacement if you are looking for a much creamy and exotic revision of it. But sure is a healthy shift.
Will surely try Panna cotta replacing the coconut milk with whole milk & cream for an exotic version soon.

Some of the healthy desserts you may like to try on Lite Bite;

Light vanilla cake and fruit custard

Egg less and no cream Cottage Cheese Cake.

29 Comments »

Ekta said:

hmmm………….yum yum yummy!!!

# 27 February 2011 at 4:51 pm

divya.M said:

Awesome recipe…..love to try it…..

# 27 February 2011 at 4:52 pm

Raji said:

Looks very good…nice addition of palm sugar in the cookies.
Raji recently posted..Flaxseed- Oats- Dates and Nuts Ladoo

# 27 February 2011 at 4:57 pm

biny anoop said:

wow dats an awesome dessert dear…looks appealing as well

# 27 February 2011 at 5:47 pm

Audax Artifex said:

WOW I love how thick the panna cotta is you can slice it that is so cool and the Florentines look perfect so thin and crisp. Glad to hear that the challenge went down so well with the kids well done.

Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.
Audax Artifex recently posted..Feb 2011 DC Challenge Panna Cotta &amp Florentine Cookies

# 27 February 2011 at 5:58 pm

PremalathaAravindhan said:

Wow yummy and healthy too…Too gud clicks.
PremalathaAravindhan recently posted..Cheesy Mushroom Puff and Puff Pastry Soup

# 27 February 2011 at 7:06 pm

Rochelle (Acquired Taste) said:

Love your beautiful little panna cotta! I wish I would have made mine small like these. I think they would go perfectly at a party.
Rochelle (Acquired Taste) recently posted..Blackberry Vanilla Panna Cotta and Florentine Cookies – A Daring Bakers Challenge

# 27 February 2011 at 7:44 pm

Aparna said:

Like your “lighter” version of panna cotta. Need to try it with coconut milk next time.
Great idea to use palm sugar in the cookies.
Aparna recently posted..Cardamom Flavoured White Chocolate &amp Pistachio Panna Cotta and Florentine Cookies- Daring Bakers Challenge- February 2011

# 27 February 2011 at 7:50 pm

satya said:

love the way u twist sinfully dessert to healthy n sin free version..yummy

# 27 February 2011 at 9:06 pm

Jenni said:

Great job!! Your panna cotta and florentine cookies look perfect!

# 27 February 2011 at 9:10 pm

Jayashree said:

Looks so colourful. I like the texture of your panna cotta. Will be trying this out.

# 27 February 2011 at 9:37 pm

Sharmilee said:

Lovely clicks and pannacotta yummy they look
Sharmilee recently posted..Arisi Paruppu Sadam Dhal Rice

# 27 February 2011 at 10:11 pm

Faith said:

What a beautiful dish! I would love to try my hand at making panna cotta…yours looks like it came out perfect!
Faith recently posted..An Announcement &amp Black Sesame Seed &amp Anise Cookies

# 27 February 2011 at 10:22 pm

G.Pavani said:

looks amazing n grt clicks dear..

# 27 February 2011 at 11:53 pm

Kim said:

Looks great! I like how you can see the sliced strawberries through the gelee layer. Nice job on the challenge!

# 28 February 2011 at 12:23 am

Sweet Artichoke said:

Coconut panna cotta is a yummy version! I totally like it (have tried it before with mango topping and it was yum!!) The strawberry jelly adds a delicious flavour, too!

# 28 February 2011 at 1:45 am

Shelley C said:

Really well done! The color of the strawberries is so wonderfully bright, and the coconut panna cotta sounds great! Love the palm sugar in the florentines – great idea! So glad this was such a hit.
Shelley C recently posted..February Daring Bakers Challenge – Panna Cotta and Florentines

# 28 February 2011 at 7:13 am

Sommer@ASP said:

What a deliciously unique treat. I love the texture of panna cotta and the coconut milk is a great idea.
Sommer@ASP recently posted..Roasted Veggie Flat Bread

# 28 February 2011 at 8:48 am

Valarmathi said:

Looks great and beautiful…yummy

# 28 February 2011 at 11:23 am

Kairali sisters said:

Beautiful!

# 28 February 2011 at 9:40 pm

Namitha said:

Pannacotta is one of the most elegant desserts and my fav too Plam sugar in florentine cookies sounds very interesting, such a cool idea
Namitha recently posted..Breadfruit-Kadachakka Thoran

# 28 February 2011 at 11:31 pm

Swathi said:

Delicious panna cotta Florentine cookies with palm sugar sounds delicious.
Swathi recently posted..Panna Cotta with Orange Flavored Almond Florentine cookies

# 28 February 2011 at 11:55 pm