Crazy Easy Panna Cotta

Last night I tried an easy summer dessert that turned out so well that I can't find the rest of it in the fridge (that's a lie. they were eaten. mostly by me.)

I don't know if I've ever ordered Panna Cotta at a restaurant. I was using Chef Michael Smith's recipe for the dessert:  

4 cups milk

2 tsps vanilla

1/2 cup white or brown sugar (he says use 1 cup but I thought that was a little excessive!)

2 pkgs of unflavoured gelatin (like Knox, which is about 2.5 tsps each)

1 tbsp of your favourite spice, herb, or liquer!

I tried it using cinnamon and 2 tbsps of maple syrup- the real stuff, not Aunt Jemima's. 

Pour all but 1/2 cup of milk into a medium size pot and add sugar, vanilla and spice or liquer. Heat and stir until it just begins to simmer.

Meanwhile, sprinkle the gelatin into the remaining milk and let it absorb the moisture. 

Pour hot milk into the gelatin mixture and gently stir until mixed thoroughly and gelatin dissolves. 

Now you can pour the milk into any kind of moulds. I found little tea cups, but you can use small dessert bowls, ramekins, tupperware, really whatever you want. He said lightly oil the containers to get the moulds out easily but that didn't work for me at all. Normally you can turn them out onto a plate and make it look all nice. We are eating ours staright out of the containers they were made in because they still got stuck. Maybe I should lightly butter the insides next time?

Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours or overnight. 

Instead of sugar you can use honey or maple syrup. Rosemary would also be a delicious herb to put in or whatever else you can think of!

yum..

I made mine in vintage tea cups...aka. value village tea cups.