Chocolate and Cinnamon Panna Cotta with Florentine Cookies

Over the weekend I completed my first Daring Bakers challenge. This is my second Daring KITCHEN challenge, but my first time as a Daring Baker. The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

I'd never made a Panna Cotta before this challenge. While I liked the look of the Giada recipe we were all given, I've been hoarding Donna Hay cookbooks and magazines for quite a while, and wanted to try her version first. And since I'd just picked up some cinnamon chips at the market, I wanted to incorporate them, so here's my ever-so-slightly modified version of Donna Hay's recipe:

Chocolate (and Cinnamon!) Panna Cotta
4 cups cream
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 oz milk chocolate
2 oz cinnamon chips
2 tsp gelatin
1/4 cup water


Place the cream, sugar, and vanilla in a saucepan and bring up to a slow simmer, stirring occasionally until the liquid has reduced by 1/3. Add the chocolate and cinnamon chips, and stir until smooth. Place gelatin in a bowl with the water and let sit for 5 minutes. Place the gelatin mixture in a saucepan over low heat until the gelatin has dissolved. Then stir it into the hot cream mixture and simmer for 1 minute. Pour into ramekins or bowls and refrigerate for 4-6 hours. Finish with sea salt if desired. (I desired. I love my chocolate with salt.) While my Panna Cotta was a little loose, it was no less delicious. Seriously delicious.

To make the Florentines, I used a slightly modified version of the recipe on the Nestle website:
2/3 cup butter
2 cups quick oats 

1 cup granulated sugar 

2/3 cup all-purpose flour 

1/4 cup light or dark corn syrup 

1/4 cup milk 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1/4 cup Cinnamon Chips

3-5 Ghirardelli Caramel & Chocolate Squares

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Melt the butter in medium saucepan, then remove it from heat. Stir in oats, sugar, flour, corn syrup, milk, vanilla extract and salt; mix well. Drop tablespoons of cookie batter about 3 inches apart, onto Silpat baking sheets. Spread thin with a rubber spatula. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

Microwave the Ghirardelli caramel chocolate squares with the cinnamon chips in an uncovered, microwave-safe bowl for 40 seconds. Stir until chocolate is melted. Spread thin layer of melted caramel/cinnamon/chocolate mixture onto flat side of half the cookies. Top with remaining cookies to make sandwiches. Serve with giant glass of milk.

These cookies are super sweet and tasty with the chocolate spread, but also stand alone as a satisfying crunchy treat without it. 

For the unmodified version of Donna Hay's Chocolate Panna Cotta, check out her book Flavors, here:

Thanks for reading, and thanks for the challenge, Mallory!