Sunday, February 27, 2011

Daring Baker - February Challenge - Panna Cotta & Floretine Cookies

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.

I was super excited about this months Baker's Challenge because I LOVE Panna Cotta!  Love, love, love it.  I didn't realize how easy panna cotta is to make, making it taste the way I like was going to be a different challenge.  So the panna cotta came out pretty good, it could have been put into a prettier container and I totally forgot about the gelee recipe, so I had some plain panna cotta.  I thought the flavor was a bit lacking and I might try adding some vanilla beans or vanilla extract next time.  The texture came out perfect, but it pretty much tasted like whipping cream flavored panna cotta.  Still delicious though, especially after I let it set overnight.  When I first tasted it (about 7 hours of being in the fridge) it tasted more like whipped cream, after setting over night it tasted more like panna cotta.

The florentine cookies were a different story entirely.  This is where I wish I had a pipping bag or some of the other tools that make cooking easier, like more counter space. haha... because this is what happened..

***CRASH*** BAM**** BOOOM***
(thank goodness for a well trained dog, yes he got to try a taste after I cleaned it up)




On a positive note, I got to purchase a Silpat and wonder how I ever lived without it!  The end results weren't that pretty, but I think I might give it another shot and halve the recipe.  I had so much chocolate left over!  These are the before photos of the cookies (I have a tendency to dollap too much I think).


I was WAY more excited about melting this:




Into this (because I've never done it before):



The cookies tasted almost overly sweet, but magic happened when I ate it with the panna cotta!  It's like the flavors were made for each other!  I think I'll try these again, because I really want to make them pretty and also because I now have a giant container of quick oats and I'm not a huge oatmeal fan. ;) All in all, not a successful challenge for me, but definitely a fun experience!

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