Pumpkin Panna Cotta...

Panna Cotta must be one of the most easy and versatile desserts you could make. It yearns to be made ahead of time and makes life easier if you have some fancy dinner plans, just pull it from the fridge and it's ready to be eaten. On top of that it only takes about ten minutes to prepare with minimal ingredients and leaves room for many additions. I've made a few different flavors in the past but this time I wanted to try for a pumpkin flavor. I always use the same basic recipe from David Lebovitz, simply adding some canned pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger and pumpkin pie spice. I also put a small layer of chocolate cookie crust on the bottom of the glass which is in fact a candle holder. It's a great size for an individual dessert and you can pick them up at a craft store for around a dollar each. One thing to watch is, they aren't as strong as regular dinner glasses so be careful when your handling them.

Your probably looking at it and thinking that it doesn't look like the Panna Cotta which you've had before and you'd be right. I chose to not have to un-mold mine just because without proper Panna Cotta molds I think it gets tricky and I didn't want to have to deal with that today. They still taste the same and these benefit from the cookie crust. If I could have changed one thing it would be to have been more liberal with the pumpkin and the spices. This had a very delicate flavor but didn't quite make it to the taste of a pumpkin pie which was what I was going for. I also made some real chocolate leaves for the side, pretty for a garnish but to thin to dip. You should really give these a go and experiment with flavors. Lemon, mint, basil and chai are just a few I could think off. They're good to eat as is or with some fresh berries on the side.

Here's the recipe adapted from David Lebovitz: I halved the original recipe and still managed to yield six minis.

2 Cups of heavy cream
1/4 Cup of sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 packet of powdered gelatin
3 Tbsp of cold water
3/4 Cup of canned pumpkin
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice
A pinch of dried ginger

Heat the cream and the sugar gently and stir until the sugar dissolves.
Add the vanilla, pumpkin and spices.
Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a bowl and leave for 10 minutes. If using real molds, grease lightly with a neutral tasting oil.
Pour the cream mixture over the gelatin and stir well. Divide the completed mixture between the molds and leave to set in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight. If overnight make sure to cover with wrap to keep out other odors in the fridge.
To unmold run a sharp knife around the mold and turn upside down onto a serving plate.