It’s always a dash to the finish line for me when it comes to the Daring Baker’s Challenge. And though I always ALWAYS vow to myself that I’ll make it WAY ahead of time… I never do. This month was no different, except for the fact that I checked into the challenge to see what I needed to make and it was a panna cotta. Which meant it needed to chill for eight hours in the fridge, which meant I couldn’t just make it last minute. Or could I? That’s what ice water baths are for! So I present to you my latest Daring Baker’s Challenge, a vanilla bean and blood orange panna cotta with orange caramel sauce and orange cardamom hazelnut dark chocolate Florentines made at the last minute. 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.
Of course, as always, I wanted to do more with the challenge; more layers, more contrasting flavors, more funky shapes for the cookies. *sigh* But this is what I came up with last minute. Groping around in the kitchen, I saw that AJ had picked up some blood oranges (we affectionately call them bloody oranges because our friend Ben once called them that) at the local grocery store. I love bloody oranges. I wonder how they would taste in a panna cotta? Only one way to find out!
AJ was suitably impressed. He personally loves milk, cream and all things dairy, so the idea of a dessert that is pretty much just milk is sugar and flavoring was fabulous (this explains his eternal love for ice cream). For me, I had never made panna cotta before, much less tasted one before (What? How is that possible? But nope, never had one) but now I know what I’ve been missing. Creamy, smooth and sweet in my mouth, I wanted to swoon with my first bite. I could go on, but it would just get more obscene so I shall stop.
To accompany the layered vanilla bean and blood orange panna cotta, I made an orange caramel sauce with a touch of allspice and orange hazelnut dark chocolate Florentines. The caramel added a sharp bite of sweetness slightly tempered by the orange juice and a contrast to the other two cream layers. The cookies were a nice touch; dark and crunchy to balance the light and creamy. At one point AJ turned to me and said “OK. I have to stop now. I’ve eaten too many cookies.” Best compliment ever.

Panna cotta, by the way, is super easy to make. Way easy. I love how versatile it is and how you can just add any old flavor you want to it. Even more fun was photographing them. AJ and I had a blast trying to figure out the best way to photograph the layered dairy creation. In the end, AJ took a photo directly above with all the props that I added (whoo! I get to be food stylist!). It’s our ode to Saveur Magazine. Normally I would call it “the money shot” but I’m going to refer to it as “the Penny shot” – after Penny de los Santos.
Thanks Daring Bakers for the challenge! Can’t wait until next time!
Vanilla Bean and Blood Orange Panna Cotta (naturally gluten free)
Though I was supposed to use the recipe from Giada De Laurentiis, I opted to go to with my Professional Baking book by Wayne Gisslen, as part of my Pro Baking project. The recipe is dead easy. I’ve created two variations based on it, a vanilla bean and a blood orange. Explanations on how to layer it is below as well. You can easily double (or even triple) the recipe for the vanilla bean or the blood orang panna cotta and skip the layering.
Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta
Adapted from Professional Baking 5th Edition by Wayne Gisslen
1 tsp powdered gelatin
4 tsp cold water
3/4 cup (150 g) whole milk
3/4 cup (150 g) heavy cream
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean
1. Place the powdered gelatin in a small bowl and then pour the cold water over it to let it soften.
2. Place the milk, cream, sugar and vanilla extract into a medium pan. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds out of the pod into the milk. Put the scraped out pod into the milk.
3. Cook the milk on medium until the sugar has dissolved and small bubbles start to form on the sides of the pan. Do not let the milk boil.
4. Turn off the heat and add the gelatin. Stir to dissolve the gelatin. Remove the vanilla bean pod. Pour into molds or glasses and chill until set.
Blood Orange Panna Cotta
Adapted from Professional Baking 5th Edition by Wayne Gisslen
1 tsp powdered gelatin
1/4 cup (50 g) of blood orange juice, divided
1/2 cup (100 g) whole milk
3/4 cup (150 g) heavy cream
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
1/4 tsp of lemon extract (optional)
1. Place the powdered gelatin in a small bowl and then add 4 tsps of blood orange juice into the bowl to let it soften.
2. Place the remaining blood orange juice, milk, cream, sugar and lemon extract if using into a medium pan. Cook the milk on medium until the sugar has dissolved and small bubbles start to form on the sides of the pan. Do not let the milk boil.
4. Turn off the heat and add the gelatin. Stir to dissolve the gelatin. Pour into molds or glasses and chill until set.
To Assemble Layered Panna Cotta
1. To make a layered panna cotta, pour half the panna cotta custard into the mold or glass and let it set. Then make the second layer and pour it on top. It’s important that you let each layer set first before you pour the subsequent layers.
Note 1. Usually it takes panna cotta 6 to 8 hours to set in the fridge. I hurried the process it by creating an ice water bath. To do that, you need to metal bowl that nest inside each other. In the large bowl, fill it with ice and water about 1/4 to a 1/3 full. Then place the other metal bowl in the ice water bath. Pour the hot panna cotta custard into the smaller metal bowl and then stir the custard until it’s cold and starts to set. Immediately pour the custard into the molds/glasses and refrigerate. This will shorten the setting time immensely.
Note 2. You can reserve the vanilla pod and use it to make vanilla extract or vanilla sugar. Thoroughly wash and dry the vanilla pod and then add vanilla pods to small pot of sugar and let it sit for a couple of weeks for vanilla sugar. Or put the vanilla pod in a small pot of quality vodka (don’t use cheap vodka) and let it steep for six weeks in a dark place. You now have vanilla extract!
Note 3. If you don’t have vanilla beans, just add another 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract in it’s place.
All Spice Orange Caramel Sauce (naturally gluten free)
This recipe is based off of a Sherry Yard recipe from her book The Secrets of Baking. Sherry Yard is one of my pastry idols. In fact, I believe she is one of the very few people I have ever written a fan letter to (she never replied back). Do yourself a favor and run out and get her book if you don’t already have it.
Adapted from The Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard
1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice, strained without pulp
1/2 cup water, divided
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon all spice
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1. Place orange juice, 1/4 cup water, 2 tablespoons sugar and all spice into a small pan. Heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture boils. Remove from heat and cover.
2. Place 1 cup of sugar, remaining 1/4 cup water, and corn syrup in a large pot. Turn the heat on to medium and cover the pot. Let the sugar cook for 4 minutes.
3. Remove the cover from the pot and turn the heat onto medium high (if you are adept at making caramel, you can turn it to high). Watch the sugar carefully. It will be bubbling. The bubbles should grow bigger and that’s when you need to watch it turn to caramel.
4. Cook the sugar until it starts to carmelize. I like to bring my caramel past golden brown to near mahogany but that can be dangerous if you don’t have experience making caramel. You want to watch the sugar carefully and once it starts to turn brown, swirl the pan around to evenly cook it. You can always pull it off the stove and then put it on again, but if you over cook the caramel you have to start from scratch.
4. Once the sugar has turned golden brown (about 345˚F on a candy themometer if you want to use it) turn off the heat and swirl it around to make sure all the sugar is evenly cooked, and then place it on a stable surface (another burner if you are using electric, or the same burner with the gas turned off). Then pour the orange juice into the caramel. Be careful as it will bubble and steam, don’t get burned!
5. Once the caramel settles down, stir the mixture with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon. If there are bits of caramel that have not dissolved, you can heat the caramel up again to dissolve them back into the syrup.
6. The caramel will thicken as it cools.
Note 4. This recipe makes about four times as much caramel as you need for the above panna cotta. Feel free to halve the recipe if you want, but the sauce itself is great for other desserts or over ice cream. It’s also fantastic for plating desserts because it’s clear and it looks fantastic on a white plate. Any spices like all spice or vanilla bean will be suspended in the sauce making your desserts look all fancy pants.
Orange Cardamom Hazelnut Dark Chocolate Florentines (gluten free)
These are radically reworked from the original Nestle Florentine Cookies.
1/2 cup (65 g) hazelnuts
1 1/2 cup (120 g) quick oats (make sure to use certified gluten free if that is a concern)
1/4 cup (35 g) oat flour (make sure to use certified gluten free if that is a concern)
3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon (30 g) sorghum flour
3 tablespoons (30 g) sweet rice flour
2 tablespoons (18 g) golden flax meal
Zest of 2 medium blood oranges
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons (150 g) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/4 cup molasses (not blackstrap)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 oz of dark chocolate (make sure to use certified gluten free if that is a concern)
1. Preheat an oven to 375˚F (190˚C). Line two baking sheets with silpats or parchment paper.
2. Place hazelnuts into a food processor and process until the hazelnuts are finely ground. Be careful that you don’t grind them into hazelnut butter though.
3. Pour ground hazelnut meal, quick oats, oat flour, sorghum flour, sweet rice flour, flax meal, zest, cardamon and salt into a large mixing bowl. Using a whisk, vigorously stir until well blended.
4. Melt butter in a medium pan over medium heat. Once melted, remove from heat, add the heavy cream, molasses and vanilla. Stir until well mixed, and pour into dry mixture.
5. Using a spatula or wooden spoon mix the cookie dough until the butter is incorporated. Since there is no gluten or wheat, there is no fear of overworking the dough.
6. Form small tablespoon size balls of the dough and then flatten with the palm of your hand. Place on the lined baking sheets at least 3 inches apart (these suckers spread!) and then bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and the cookies have spread out.
7. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for at least ten minutes or preferably until completely cool then move to a cooling rack.
8. While the cookies are cooling, chop the dark chocolate into small 1/4 inch chunks. Then melt it by placing it in the microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring between intervals.
9. Once the cookies are completely cooled, turn them over, and smear a small amount of melted chocolate on the bottom of one of them, and then place the other one bottom side down on top of it, bottom to bottom sandwiching the cookies. Repeat with the remaining cookies. Refrigerate for 10 minutes or so until the chocolate solidifies, gluing the cookies together.
Note 5. If you so desire, you can also cut the cookies into strips, like I did. But that’s kind of fussy. Just use a very sharp chef knife when you do it. A dull knife is more liable to break it than cut it, leading to irregular cuts (which can look great too, you just don’t have as much control).





































{ 90 comments… read them below or add one }
I love your take on the challenge (aromas & cookies shape)! As usual, your creation is just amazing and has the must delightful flavors. Divine. Well done again!
Cheers,
Rosa
Thank you Rosa. I had a great time making them and coming up with the flavors!
You were one of the ones inspiring me this month to be more creative with flavours. I need to up my game. I also love your finger cookie sandwiches – a wee tweak that just makes your dish really stand out and look a cut above!!!!
I’m flattered that I inspired you! And I initially wanted to roll the florentines, but they weren’t cooperating, so cutting them is how I solved that problem!
WOW! This looks amazing. I love the colored layers and your props
You did such a great job!
Thank you! I had a great time playing with the props. Food styling is fun!
these are gorgeous! i love panna cotta but have yet to make it myself. way to take it up a notch with the pretty layers… I’ve yet to try a blood-y orange – me thinks it’s time to seek them out!
Oh you MUST run out and get some bloody oranges! The color is amazingly red. They have a tart flavor, not as sweet as regular oranges. More like a cross between oranges and grapefruit (though AJ would disagree because he loves bloody oranges, but hates grapefruit).
And panna cotta is way easy to make!
Fantastic! Your work is amazing!
Loved the combination of flavors, must try it. Adored the florentines cut!
Cheers, Mafalda
Thank you so much! I’m glad the cut florentines worked with the panna cotta.
Nice work with the composition of the dish. Loving how it looks. The matchstick florentines were a nice touch
Thank you! I had great fun composing the dish and working with my partner AJ in the photographing of it!
The panna cotta looks like heaven!!
Thank you so much!
Holy Moly! Your panna cotta came out perfect! The color of the blood orange layer really kills me. Such a pretty color. And I love how you made your florentine cookies!
Thank you! I actually wanted the blood orange layer to be more of a deep red, but the pink worked out. I probably could have used more blood orange juice, but I was afraid the acidity might disrupt the gelatin. Oh well. Perhaps next time!
Wow – that all looks amazing. The layers, the pictures, the florentines – very, very well done. And tell your food stylist he did awesome
Thanks! I’ll be sure that my food stylist receives the compliment.
Love the 2-layers of panna cotta! I’m a little sad that your fan letter never got answered….
You know. So am I! But in Sherry Yard’s defense, I think she was traveling in Asia when I messaged her on Facebook. Oh well. She’s a busy woman. I can’t imagine she has time to write back to every fan letter she gets. *shrug*
But Sherry, if you are reading this, just know I’m still a huge fan. Even if you didn’t write me back!
Beautifully done! And wow- that last picture is so, so nice.
Thank you! I love that last shot. I just wish there was a way to show the layers of the panna cotta in the overhead shot. Penny de los Santos would probably have figured out a way. Oh well.
Love the ode to Saveur shot. The caramel and blood orange flavors probably were a nice counterpoint to the creamy lushness. Neat idea to cut up the cookies into long bars.
Thank you! I’m a big fan of Saveur magazine. And yes, the caramel and blood orange flavors were a great foil to the cream.
Oooh delish!!! Im glad to see you were as inspired by the panna cotta and florentines as I was! I cant wait to make some of your orange caramel sauce, it sounds divine!
The orange caramel sauce is wonderful! I still have some in the fridge. I need to figure out what to use it for. Maybe on the snickerdoodle ice cream I have in the freezer…
wow all your pics look so fantastic!!! clean and elegant. great job! I did a cheese-cake type panna cotta
the flavors are amking my mouth water.
ButtercreamBarbie
I loved your cheesecake type panna cotta! And thank you for the compliment on the pictures. My partner AJ is an amazing photographer. I totally art directed, but it was really all him.
What amazing photography both dishes sound so delicious the profile is astounding bloody oranges are so tasty I think. I love the shape you made the Florentine cookies so cute well done. I’m stunned with the flavour of the cookies cardamom is my fav.
Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.
Thanks Audax! I love cardamom too, and it worked so well with the orange oat hazelnut florentines. My partner is a great photographer isn’t he?
Gorgeous, in every way! Congratulations on the fabulous dessert!
Thank you!
I can see how blood oranges would go so well with the panna cotta, and I love shape of the florentine cookies. Beautiful photos too!
Thank you so much! The blood orange went really well with the creamy panna cotta. And my partner is an awesome photographer. I’m very lucky.
Those florentines sound amazing – I love anything with cardamom, especially sweets, so this is fantastic!
Thank you! I’m a fan of cardamon too. It’s totally the cool vaguely foreign-born cousin to the all-American cinnamon. I’m a fan.
Gorgeous pictures, and I like your take on the challenge with blood oranges, very nice! Love it
)
(BTW, I also love your blog design, especially the font
Thank you for the compliment on the photos and the challenge. It was super fun to make.
And yes, I only recently redesigned my blog, about a month or so ago. Even though the paint is still drying, it already feels like home.
I’m glad someone else always ends up waiting until the last minute to complete challenges and I am very impressed that you found a way to shorten the chill time for the panna cotta. I also love that you incorporated caramel into your panna cotta. as it is one of my favorite things!
Your results and blog are so professional I’m envious.
Caramel is one of my favorite flavors too. And the orange caramel tasted great. I really need to not do my challenges so late in the game. Maybe for the month of March I’ll be more on top of things.
Probably not. Ha! But thank you for your compliments!
Beautiful photos! I love your flavors and the cookie strips!
Thank you so much! Have I mentioned how much I love my partner, who happens to be a kick ass photographer too? Well I do. Very much so.
Stunningly Beautiful…
You’re so sweet! Thank you!
I’m loving the layers in your panna cotta! I imagine that this is a very complex dessert, with all of these brilliant flavors.
Great entry for DB!
It’s actually pretty simple, though it looks complex. A few components and then it looks like I spent a whole lot of time to make it, but really I didn’t. It’s just smoke and mirrors if you know what I mean.
Though people have definitely told me that I make way more complicated things than I have to. I never think they are complicated, but then I guess my sense of judgement is totally askew.
I love “bloody” oranges as well and I can almost taste the combo of creamy and sweet orange -fantastic idea. The “Penny” shot is worthy of the name. I had a great time with this one also, tried wine with mine. Great job!
LOL. Thank you. I’m pleased that you understood the reference to the amazing photographer Penny de los Santos. And yes, the creamy orange dessert was great. Though wine sounds like a wonderful creation!
Thanks so much for the lovely comment on my blog. And thank you for the tips on substitutes for dark corn syrup. You assumed right – I have no cream of tartar, so thanks for thinking of an alternative for me. You are the greatest!
As for your panna cotta – it looks amazing! The whole layout with the oranges and all is absolutely breathtaking. I wish I could taste it. I must make it soon.
xoxo, Ms.Z.
You’re most welcome. I know it’s hard to sometimes find the appropriate substitutions when you are limited to where you are or where you can shop. It can be tough, and I’m pretty lucky to live in San Francisco where I can get nearly anything I need. I hope the conversion for the corn syrup works for you!
And thank you for the compliment on my panna cotta!
Wow looks fabulous.. absolutely love it.. beautiful pictures.
Pavithra
http://www.dishesfrommykitchen.com
Thank you! You’re photos were beautiful too!
Love your penny cotta
The blood orange layer and gelee is a beautiful contrast to the bottom layer. And your Orange Cardamom Hazelnut Dark Chocolate Florentines look delicious. Excellent job on this challenge…I love how you presented it!
Thank you! The presentation was super fun to do. I kept on playing with the layout. I think we would have tons more photos, but it was getting late and the photographer had to go to sleep…
I don’t know what to comment on first…how delicious the panna cotta looks (I LOVE blood oranges) or how beautiful the photos are. Both are amazing!!!
Thank you so much! I had a great time making it and it really was delicious eating it. Now I know what I’ve been missing all these years!
Look at you! Your panna cotta is beautiful – you certainly didn’t go the lazy route (I did!). Next time, I’ll try the layers – because yours is a stunner!
I can’t believe you called your gorgeous nest of pistachios the “lazy route”. It looked stunning! And yes, the layers were great. If you do the ice water bath, you can totally make the layers much faster. Otherwise you have to wait for each layer to solidify before you add the next one.
I had also never had panna cotta until now, shocking isn’t it! Now that I know how friggin good it is, this is going to be a dangerous love affair
Gorgeous panna cotta, love the flavours you used and it’s presented beautifully!
I know! And I’m lactose intolerant, so this can’t be good. Though I imagine it will be easy to make with goat milk or some other lactose friendly milk. I should investigate, but I’m fearful of my waistline…
Great pictures! I like the flavour combination. Thought about doing something with oranges as well, but settled for the classical raspberry gelée with the addition of a little orange juice.
Your raspberry gelee looks great, I think that would have been an excellent flavor combination as well. The great thing about the panna cotta is that it’s so versatile!
these are beautiful and i happen to have those very same glasses and a bag of blood oranges in my fridge. obviously i have to make these!
Yes! You must! And come back and tell me what you think of them! I love them.
Agh, I hate it when people write “I was suppose to…”
It’s “I was supposeD to…”
Rant over. These sound delicious!
I suppose I should have spent a little more time looking at my post to make sure I had no typos in it. In fact, I was supposed to proofread it but sadly it was getting late and I needed to go to bed.
No worries. I’ve gone ahead and changed that typo. Cheers.
WOW! I’m impressed with your creativity and the wonderful flavor combinations. I specially love the finger Florentine cookies.
Thank you! The Florentine cookies turned out better than I thought. The trick was cutting them when they were still warm and using a sharp chef knife.
Stunning pics! Beautiful job on this challenge =)
Oh thank you. I had a great time making it!
I love blood oranges and in this dessert! They not only add beautiful color but yummy flavor too! Thanks for sharing!
http://www.thefinishing-school.com
And thanks for stopping by! The blood oranges totally added a great color and flavor to the finished product!
Hey

I love how creative your were with the florentines!
I like the shape und the great ideas you had with the flavour
Beautiful photographs, too!
Thank you Lea! I shall pass the compliment on to my partner the photographer!
I’m floored by your intepretation of this challenge! I cannot choose between the flavour combinations, the way your florentines look, your presentation or the stunning photograph!!
Why thank you Aparna! I had a super fun time coming up with the flavors and styling the photo.
Love the “penny shot”. It feels like forever since I have had a blood orange. Yum… great flavor combination
Best,Sandie
Thank you! The “penny shot” was super fun to do, and the blood oranges were great addition to the panna cotta. Thanks for stopping by!
Wow! B-E-A-U-tiful! Love the flavors. And those photos!
Thank you Sandy! We had a great time photographing them!
WOW! This looks amazing. I love the colored layers! Adored the way you made your florentines!! amazing photos!!..haha yah imagin and i found the glass in his room! thanks for dropping by and for the comments!. =)
And thank you for dropping by! I definitely had fun making this…
Looks great. I see you have Bodum glasses too. I love them.
Aren’t the bodum glasses great? The only drawback is we have to be extra careful with them when we wash them. We can get a little clumsy and we’ve broken a few sets…
So beautiful. The food , the pictures, everything. It is very different from the other daring bakers challenge entries.
Gorgeous!
I think this is the best flavor combination I’ve seen around for this DB challenge. If this is the creativity you get in doing it at the last moment, I hope you always find yourself in that situation! And btw, I always check the challenge on the first of the month and end up doing it the very last day sigh
I love the orange caramel you made! it looks beautiful!
Hey there. I am making this RIGHT NOW, to serve tonight. When do you add the caramel to the panna cottas? Right before you serve them, or does it set in the refrigerator as well? How cool does the caramel need to be before adding it as the third layer?
Hi Kimberly! You have to let the panna cotta set first and you have to make sure that the caramel is AT LEAST room temperature before you pour it onto the panna cotta or it will melt the panna cotta.
That said, you can do it either way. If you pour the room temperature caramel over the panna cotta and then refrigerate it, it will be thicker (like thick honey or molasses) and cling a bit more to each spoonful. If you pour it over the panna cotta when it’s at room temperature, right before you serve it, it will be more like a syrup (like maple syrup). Either way works, it just depends on which one you like most.
Do keep in mind, it’s pretty sweet so I don’t recommend too much of the caramel. Just enough to create a pretty layer and add an extra dimension of flavor. Let me know how it turns out for you!
Thanks! Was beautiful and delicious. I loved the spice in the syrup, but you were right, it needs no more than a tablespoon for each serving. Also, my orange layer was not as visually distinctive as your photo. Next time I may add a bit of zest and just a drop or two of food coloring. Happy New Year!