7.19.18
One of my favorite things when it comes to baking is mentioning the flavor profile of my new bake and having friends go “Ohhhhh my goooooddd I LOOOOOOOVEEEE [insert flavor here].” That has happened numerous times with my latest creation. And with good reason. Cookies and cream anything is pretty much a shoe-in to be delicious. I’ve been playing around with cookies and cream in my head and what to do with it. And then I watched the Chef’s Table with Christina Tosi. I knew I had to try steeping the cookies in the cream like she does with her infamous cereal milk panna cotta. The crumbs of the cookies seep more into the cream than any part of her cereal flakes, but I think the result is just as satisfying. I hesitated to call this a panna cotta, because it is a bit thicker than that stand alone jiggly dessert. But after I cut into it, and the texture was still in the same ballpark I felt more confident with the title. This panna cotta is poured into an Oreo crust and is just so decadent on its own, only a few chocolate shavings are needed to finish it off. I’d still like to play around with the ratios of gelatin and cream and cookies, but after my first few tries this seems to be a total winner. And ps, this is a no-bake dessert, so there’s no excuse not to make this cookies and cream panna cotta for your next cook out or dinner party this summer.
Cookies and Cream Panna Cotta
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- About 15-20 Oreos
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
For the Filling:
- 2 cups half & half
- 1 cup heavy cream (divided)
- about 10-15 Oreo cookies
- 1 packet of powdered gelatin
- 1/4 cup of sugar
- white and dark chocolate shavings for garnish
Instructions:
For the Crust:
- In a food processor pulse the cookies into small crumbs, dump into medium bowl
- Pour melted butter into cookie crumbs, mix until they start to clump together
- Dump into tart pan with a loose bottom, press the cookies into a thin layer along the bottom and up the sides of the pan, pressing carefully to make sure crust goes into all crevices and corners
- Freeze for at least one hour but up to overnight
For the Filling:
- Add half & half, 1/2 cup of the heavy cream and cookies into a medium bowl and allow to steep for about 20 – 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to continue to break up soggy cookies
- Smash cookies up in bowl (I used a potato masher) so the cookies completely break apart and combine into the cream mixture, mix well
- Pour mixture through a sieve into a medium sauce pan, pressing the crumbs with a rubber spatula to make sure all liquid is drained thoroughly, discard soggy crumbs
- Sprinkle packet of gelatin over remaining 1/2 cup of cold heavy cream in small bowl and allow to bloom 5-10 minutes
- Add sugar to cream and cookie mixture in sauce pan and heat over medium, stirring gently with a wooden spoon, the mixture should never come to a boil and sugar should fully dissolve
- Once heated, remove sauce pan from heat and pour in remaining cream with bloomed gelatin, whisking together to allow gelatin to fully dissolve. If it feels as though gelatin has not fully dissolved, place sauce pan back over low heat and whisk until fully dissolved
- Pour mixture into frozen cookie crust, place in fridge allow to chill overnight
- Sprinkle shavings of white and dark chocolate over top before serving
