Tea infused panna cotta

I love tea. Plain old english breakfast, jasmine, earl grey, white, green, almost any tea. As a consequence, I have a cupboard of the stuff and despite my best efforts, it never seems to get any smaller. I’ve been looking for ways to work through my stash and decided to give tea infused panna cotta a go.

 

Panna cotta is a really simple, make ahead, dessert for dinner parties. Of course you can serve it the traditional way and turn it out on to a plate but I like the simplicity of leaving it in the mould or setting it in tea cups for a nice surprise.

When choosing a tea to use, try and avoid the smokier flavours- I’m looking at you

lapsang souchong. Citrus and floral notes work much better to lighten this rich dessert. I used Kusmi’s Anastasia for it’s bergamot and orange blossom and their beautiful green tea and jasmine for another.  If you’re not a huge tea fan I’ve still got you covered, just switch the tea leaves for the contents of two vanilla pods and you’ll have yourself a classic and equally wonderful vanilla panna cotta.

This recipe will make 4 generous servings:

 

500ml double cream

500ml milk

50g sugar

6 gelatine leaves softened in a little water (or 20g powdered gelatine)

1 tbsp tea leaves

 

In a sauce pan on a medium heat, combine the cream, milk, sugar and tea leaves and bring to a simmer. Turn off the heat and add the gelatine, stirring until it has dissolved. If you’re using powdered gelatine, tilt the pan and make sure you can’t see any gelatine crystals in the bottom.

Working quickly, strain the mixture through a sieve to remove the tea leaves, then divide in to ramekins, tea cups or jars. Leave on the counter top until cool then transfer to the fridge for an hour or until you’re ready to serve.

You’ll find some teas colour more than others, above left to right are Anastasia ( almost the same as lady grey), green tea with jasmine which has a slight green tint and vanilla at the front.

Once you have this recipe under your belt try and play around with new ingredients and develop new flavours. I’d love to know if you try it out.