Here’s to another round of Daring Bakers!

This month’s challenge was brought to us by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen, and she had everyone making Panna Cotta and Florentine Cookies under the “Creamy Dreamy Crunchy Sweet February” theme.  An adjective or two too many, perhaps, but still tasty…and very accurate.

This was a much appreciated respite from January’s DB challenge, which was a dessert I largely couldn’t pronounce and required ingredients I didn’t already own.  I didn’t know what panna cotta or florentine cookies were either, but they were graciously much more straight forward than a wordy french pastry.

The Panna Cotta I decided to make for my mother’s birthday dinner dessert.  It was really good timing; my brother and I had decided to go with an italian dinner theme for her, so the panna cotta fit in perfectly.  Since my mother, like me, is a huge chocolate fan, I went ahead and made it pure chocolate with a few extra flairs.

I whipped up some whipping cream and added mint extract and a few drops of green food coloring.  Adding a little swirl of the whipped cream plus a sprinkle of dark chocolate chips to each glass gave the dessert a touch of pizazz.  This dessert was exceptionally creamy and delicious, and the dollop of mint cream in each glass gave the entire dessert a slight mint flavor as well.  Very tasty.

The florentine cookies were a little more challenging than the panna cotta, but mostly because I, as usual, started out cutting a corner (some things never change).  We were instructed to place the cookies three inches apart on the baking sheet, which I dismissed, for some reason, as foolish.  Thusly, my first batch of cookies weren’t quite spaced out enough, so I received one giant florentine cookie instead of 9 separate ones.

Abashed by my bravado, I toned down my next few batches in order to produce something hopefully slightly resembling real florentines.  Funny, following the instructions worked.

Since I made these two desserts several weeks apart, it actually didn’t occur to me to infuse this cookie with some mint too…though now I really wish I had.  Instead I didn’t vary much (read: at all) from the given recipe and just worked with the ingredients I had sitting in my pantry.  Maybe not as creative, but still delicious.

Even without the chocolate the florentines were good; I may or may not have had a few small spoonfuls of the dough/batter on its own. >.> I don’t typically use oats in my cookies and these tasted delicious with all the sugar and butter mixed in (but then, what doesn’t?).  Chocolate only served to make them better.

These are great recipes that are fairly straight forward, but can still easily impress.  I’m not sure florentine cookies are my favorite, but they’re definitely a good “every once and awhile” cookie.  The panna cotta was fantastic though, and when I make it again I’ll definitely get a little more creative and go for some layers, as was suggested in Mallory’s original post.  Give it a try sometime; I bet you’ll be pleased!

Chocolate Panna Cotta with Mint Whipped Cream

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 tbsp unflavored powdered gelatin
• 2 1/2 cups whipping cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp mint extract
• green food coloring

Instructions:

1. Pour milk into a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over the top, set aside for 2-5 minutes.
2. Place a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir in 2 cups cream, sugar and vanilla. Bring to a low boil.
3. Add chocolate and whisk until melted. Whisk the milk/gelatin mixture into chocolate cream mixture. Whisk until gelatin has dissolved.
4. Transfer to ramekins, or nice glasses for serving.
5. Cover and chill at least 8 hours, or overnight
6. Whip the remaining 1/2 cup whipping cream into sturdy peaks with the mint extract and food coloring to your preferred green.  Pipe/dollop onto each solidified glass or ramekin.

Chocolate Florentine Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups quick oats
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup dark corn syrup
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 9oz milk chocolate

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to moderately hot 375°F (190°C) (gas mark 5). Prepare your baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper.
2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan, then remove from the heat.
3. To the melted butter add oats, sugar, flour, corn syrup, milk, vanilla, and salt. Mix well. Drop a tablespoon full, three inches (75 mm) apart, onto your prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly with the back of your tablespoon, or use a spatula.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 6-8 minutes, until cookies are golden brown. Cool completely on the baking sheets.
5. While the cookies are cooling melt your chocolate until smooth either in the microwave (1 1/2 minutes), or stovetop (in a double boiler, or a bowl that fits atop a saucepan filled with a bit of water, being sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl).
6. Peel the cookies from the silpat or parchment and place face down on a wire rack set over a sheet of wax/parchment paper (to keep counters clean).
7. Spread a tablespoon of chocolate on the bottom/flat side of your cookie, sandwiching another (flat end) cookie atop the chocolate.