Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta, Truffle Honey Florentines & Caramel Sauce

Shelley of Fabulous Foodies Fixing Fine Foods shares her Panna Cotta, Truffle Honey Florentine & Demerara Caramel recipes along with a look into her recipe development process.

I’m Shelley from Fabulous Foodies Fixing Fine Foods and am delighted to have been given the opportunity to create a delish dish using Marx Foods ingredients.  Those food bloggers who took part were presented with a long list of amazing items from which we could choose three; mine was a no brainer – find the sweet stuff!  So I chose white truffle honey, madagascar vanilla beans and demerara sugar.  Fine, ingredients chosen, now what would I make to utilize all three to their full potential.  My first thought was vanilla bean tuiles with honey flavoured ice cream and caramelized demerara.  Needing more input, I called on my dear friend of 35 years, Ellen, who has been on the same food/cooking journey as me forever.  We cooked together for many years when we both lived in Ottawa.  She still lives there and here I am on Vancouver Island.  The fact that we live almost 3000 miles apart has been no impediment to our cooking collaborations.  As it turned out she was coming to visit her daughter who attends University out here on the West Coast and was able to come over to visit and cook with me in my kitchen.

We spent a lot of time seeking inspiration, talking, scouring the internet and all of my many cookbooks, bouncing ideas off one another.  The counter was littered with books, printouts and two laptops.  We decided that we would indeed try tuiles for the cookie portion of the dessert.  We made several batches over the space of two hours and were not satisfied at all with the results.  While they tasted just fine they didn’t have the right look or consistency we were looking for.

Back to the drawing board (a place we have both spent lots of time over the years).  We also discarded the idea of ice cream and instead visited the idea of panna cotta.  I had never had panna cotta and wasn’t sure what it was but Ellen has spent time in Italy including a week in Tuscany taking a cooking course and although she had never made panna cotta before, at least knew that in Italian it meant “cooked cream” and that it tasted amazing.  Once again we pulled out the references.  I realized that it was very much like a custard but set with gelatine rather than eggs.  This would be a great use for the vanilla beans from Marx Foods.  Although we both had vanilla beans in our cupboards neither of us had ever actually used them so we fired up YouTube, because you can learn anything on YouTube.   By this time it was getting to be a bit late in the day so we decided we would start the following morning bright and early.

That evening we made butternut squash ravioli which I have blogged about previously on Fabulous Foodies.  You can find the blog and pointers to the recipe here.  Over supper we spent lots of time talking about the panna cotta and what kind of cookies to make with the white truffle honey; what should we do with the demerara and so on.

We woke up early the next morning and were eager to get to it.  As we knew that we didn’t have the “official” ingredients yet due to delays at the border, we were using my own ingredients but we felt doing that would give us a good approximation of what the “real” things would taste like.  The key was that we knew where we were going.  The first thing we tackled was the Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta.  I was quite concerned about boiling cream but It seemed to work very well so it went into the fridge to set.  We added the hull of the vanilla bean to a container of sugar which I would later use in the “official” recipe.

While the panna cotta was setting we started working on the honey florentines.  We thought that it would be a good use of the white truffle honey.  I have noticed in many recent cooking magazines that there are more unexpected ingredients being used in cookies.  Martha’s recent holiday cookies magazine includes peppercorn shortbread and macaroons with saffron or black tea.  We decided that the white truffle honey would give an unusual, subtle taste to the florentines.  After three batches we were very pleased with the final product, having shaped the florentines into tubes which my husband immediately filled with whipped cream.  In the final rendition I left the florentines flat.  They tasted like toffee.

I didn’t have any demerara sugar but I did have a big container of the coarser turbinado sugar to make into a delicious caramel sauce to pour over the finished panna cotta with the florentines as a crunchy side.  We plated the panna cotta accompanied with whipped cream, fresh raspberries and mint from the garden, still fresh in early November.  The dessert, a mixture of cream, vanilla, honey and caramel was wonderful – a total success.  And though Ellen had to leave, I was left with the warmth in my heart that only comes from spending time with those people who are most important to you in the world.  My husband said that his memory of the two of us in the kitchen wasn’t so much the food but all the laughter he heard.  And, of course, the amazing dessert he got to enjoy that evening.

Here it is the weekend and Marx Foods and Canada Customs have come through.  I have made the three parts of the dessert recipe using the “official” ingredients.  We were right about the flavour of the White Truffle Honey Florentines.  The reaction has been “What is that taste? It is fantastic.”  The guesses included nutmeg or garlic.  I am delighted with the outcome and hope you will enjoy making Fabulous Foodies Madagascar Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with its accompaniments.  Truly the best “cooked cream” ever.  My thanks to Justin at Marx Foods for being a catalyst for a wonderful visit for two old friends and allowing our creative juices to flow doing what we love best.  Our neighbours and dear friends were willing tasters and pronounced it the best dessert, hands down, they have ever had.  Even allowing for friends overstating it I believe they really meant it.  It certainly is one of the best desserts we have ever had too.  The final photo says it all – not a drop left on the plate.

Here are the recipes you’ll need to reproduce this dessert.  I hope that you will be able to share the cooking/eating with people you love who bring joy and laughter.

Fabulous Foodies Madagascar Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta
1 T unflavored gelatine
2 T cold water
2 c heavy/whipping cream
1 c. half and half cream
1/3 c granulated sugar or if you have it, vanilla sugar   (see Note)
1 Madagascar (Bourbon) Vanilla bean split and seeds scraped out and then cut the bean itself in several pieces.

Lightly oil eight custard cups.  You may use less or more depending on what size cups you are using.  I used teacups to get a spherical shape and had enough panna cotta to fill five.

In a 2 to 3 quart saucepan mix together the whipping/heavy cream, the half and half cream, the vanilla bean pieces, seeds and the sugar.  Bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved.  I like to let it boil for about a minute to ensure that the sugar is dissolved.

Sprinkle gelatine over 2 T cold water and let soften while the cream mixture boils.

Remove the mixture from the heat.  Stir 1 cup of the cream, vanilla and sugar mixture into the gelatine mixture and then stir that back into the cream and sugar that remained in the saucepan.

Once the gelatine is completely dissolved, strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth to remove the vanilla bean pieces.

Fill the greased containers (teacups, custard cups or ramekins)  and let the panna cotta come to room temperature.  Once cool, cover each with a little bit of plastic wrap, refrigerate until set.  This will take about 5 to 6 hours or overnight if you wish.

Just prior to serving dip the custard cups into some hot water taking care not to let the water get into the panna cotta.  Run a knife around the edge of the custard cup to loosen the panna cotta from the cup.  Invert the cup onto a single serving sized plate/ dessert plate until the panna cotta unmoulds.

Serve with whipped cream, white truffle honey florentines, raspberries and demerara sugar caramel sauce.  Garnish with fresh mint leaves.

Note:  White sugar works for this too so you don’t really need vanilla sugar.  However if you want to use vanilla sugar this is how I made it.  I took a vanilla bean which I had  cut it open and placed it in a container of regular granulated sugar , shook it and let it sit for a few days.  I was left with the most aromatic, subtly flavoured sugar.

White Truffle Honey Florentines
2 1/2 T flour
1 1/2 T butter
2 T brown sugar packed
1/2 T white truffle honey
1 T other good quality liquid honey
pinch of salt

Melt together the butter, brown sugar and honeys in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat.  Once melted, transfer to a bowl and mix in flour and salt using a whisk.

You must work quickly at this point.  The mixture will be hot but cools very quickly.  Spray a teaspoon with oil spray to prevent sticking and drop by small spoonfuls about 3 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.   I like to have a second spoon sprayed at hand so you don’t have to be slowed down cleaning and respraying the original spoon.  Bake at 350 degrees in a convection over or 375 degrees in a non-convection oven for approximately 8 minutes.  Watch them closely so they don’t burn.

Let the cookies cool slightly until they can be handled and retain their shape.  They crisp up quite quickly.  You can either leave them flat or you can form them into tubular shapes.  My hubby immediately filled the tubular ones with whipped cream (see photo)

These will be served alongside the panna cotta

Demerara Sugar Caramel Sauce
1/2 c. whipping/heavy cream
1/2 c demerara sugar
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt (see Note)

Mix together cream, demerara sugar, vanilla extract and salt in a saucepan over medium heat.  Stir while bringing mixture to a boil and then lower heat to medium low maintaining a rolling simmer, stirring until mixture appears to be thickened.  This takes about 8 minutes.  Remove from stove and allow it to cool before spooning it over the panna cotta.

You can refrigerate the sauce and reheat it in the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds on high to bring it back to the right consistency.

Note: don’t leave the salt out.  It truly enhances the flavour of the caramel.

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