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Mother’s Day Panna Cotta with an Irish Whiskey Sauce

By Linda Eckhardt on May 3, 2012

Perfect Panna Cotta

I don’t know about your mother, but the mother in this family (that would be me) would rather have a slightly tipsy dessert than anything I can think of. And top that off with the bottle of Irish Whiskey you used to make the sauce, and we’re good for another year.

Make in pretty molds for that special effect. And here’s a tip for using the molds. Place them on a cookie sheet before moving them. They’re all squiggly and you don’t want warm cream all over the inside of the refrigerator. The cat will love you, but there it stops.

Makes 10-12 servings

4 cups heavy organic cream

1/2 teaspoon stevia powdered extract OR to taste

Few grains sea salt

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

2 packets powdered gelatin (about 4 1/2 teaspoons)

6 tablespoons cold water

Fresh mint leaves for garnish

Pour the cream into a large heatproof vessel with a lip (glass for the microwave, metal for the stovetop). Heat the cream, sugar substitute and salt until all is dissolved, and it’s just below the boil. then remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

Sprinkle the gelatin over cold water in a small bowl and let it stand 5 to 10 minutes, or until completely dissolved.

Lightly spritz molds with cooking spray. Set these aside.

Scoop the gelatin mixture into the very warm cream mixture, and whisk until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Divide the Panna Cotta mixture into the prepared cups, then chill them until firm, which will take at least two hours.

Run a sharp knife around the edge of each Panna Cotta and unmold each onto a serving dish pooled with Whiskey sauce. Garnish with a fresh mint leaf.

Irish Whiskey Sauce

Irish Whiskey bottles for Mother’s Day

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) Irish Kerry butter

1/4 teaspoon stevia powdered extract OR to taste

Few grains sea salt

4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) Black Bush Irish Whiskey

1 large organic egg, whisked lightly

Melt the butter over medium heat in a small saucepan.

Stir in sugar substitute and salt and whisk thoroughly. Add whiskey and cook until all is dissolved. Remove from the heat and whisk in the egg. Taste and adjust seasonings to taste. Transfer to a pitcher. Serve warm over the Panna Cotta. (May be covered and stored in the refrigerator than reheated 30 seconds in the microwave).

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About Linda Eckhardt

Linda West Eckhardt, is an award winning journalist, food writer, and nutritionist. Her more than 20 cookbooks have garnered prizes including the James Beard prize for the best cookbook for a text she wrote with her daughter, Katherine West DeFoyd, entitled Entertaining 101, Doubleday. Their follow-up book, Stylish One Dish Dinners, Doubleday, was also nominated for a James Beard prize. Their next book, The High Protein Cookbook, Clarkson Potter, remains a best seller after 12 years. That book was designed to accompany low carb diet plans. Her ground-breaking book, Bread in Half The Time, Broadway Books, was named the Best Cookbook in America by the prestigious IACP, The Julia Child award. Her award winning radio work with Jennifer English, for a national show on the Food and Wine radio network, was nominated for a James Beard Prize for a show called, “I Know What You Ate Last Summer.”