Panna Cotta

I've posted a few times about panna cotta on Teh Blog.  The first time I had it was Labor Day weekend 2014 and I've been craving it ever since.  I was sure it was going to be difficult.  I looked up recipes a few months later and I got overwhelmed at the mention of gelatin.  I gave up the idea for a while.  Then one day I really wanted some freakin' panna cotta so I looked up all the recipes I could find and decided to mix and match to make the easiest one.

A pretty picture of panna cotta I didn't make. (Source)

I wanted to share my recipe with you since it's UNBEARABLY easy to make.  Seriously.  Stupid easy.  I've made it twice and didn't make it the same way and it still turned out perfectly both times.

I scoured the internet for panna cotta recipes and finally settled on this one since it seemed to have the most information on everything panna cotta and so many options to make it easier.  Some of the directions are straight from that link.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups half and half
1.5 cups heavy whipping cream
1 packet of gelatin
1/3 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
little bit of salt

Directions:

1.  Pour the half and half into a pot.  Empty the gelatin pack on the milk relatively evenly BUT DO NOT STIR!  The gelatin will start to get a bit wrinkly after about 5ish minutes.
2.  Turn on the stove to low heat to slowly heat the milk and finish dissolving the gelatin, stirring "frequently" (which I took to mean constantly).  The mixture should NOT boil or simmer.  If the mix starts to steam, remove it from the heat.  After about 2 minutes, check to see if the gelatin is dissolved by rubbing some of the mix between your fingers to make sure it's smooth or dip a spoon in the mixture and check for granules.
3.  After the gelatin is dissolved, add the sugar and dissolve, stirring frequently.  The process of dissolving the gelatin and sugar shouldn't take more than 5ish minutes.
4.  Remove the mixture from the heat and add heavy whipping cream, vanilla, and salt.  Mix together.
5.  Pour into whatever containers you've set aside for your panna cotta.  I was super classy and used mugs because a ramekin is something I neither comprehend or own.
6.  Let the panna cotta set in the fridge.
7.  Eat your delicious noms.

Notes:

• The notes on the source explain that she sometimes uses half and half for both the milk and whipping cream so it doesn't separate.  I use half and half instead of milk because I didn't want to have to deal with the possibility of separation with the milk and heavy whipping cream since we only have 1% milk in the house.
• The last batch I doubled and my pot was too small.  So bigger is better when trying to contain liquid.  One would think this is common sense, but nothing about me in the kitchen makes much sense.
• I've messed the original directions up both times.  The first time, I stirred in the gelatin to bloom it.  Oops.  It still bloomed just fine.  The second time, I bloomed the gelatin on top of the milk, but when I stirred in the gelatin, I also stirred in the sugar.  It still was fine.  I did at least wait till the end to stir in the whipping cream and vanilla.
• The original recipe calls for greasing the ramekins but I skip this because I'm not classy in anyway and just eat my panna cotta straight from the mug instead of proudly displaying it on a plate or some classy shit that classy bitches do.
• I topped the panna cotta with sweetened strawberries.  I actually could have just used the strawberry juice from the strawberry mix, because I felt like my strawberries were just getting in the way of my panna cotta.  
• I calculated the nutritional content (at the end) because I'm glutton for punishment and really I just needed to find out how many calories were in each cup so I could know how many cups a day I could eat.. DON'T JUDGE ME.  I learned I needed to limit myself to ONE cup per day.
• I usually make this before bed/after dinner so that way it can set overnight and I'm not tempted to check it all the day long.
• I'm definitely not a professional food photographer... don't judge these photos, just be proud that I took them for you before I ate all the panna cotta.

It tastes way better than it looks in my photos!