Panna Cotta?

Back in highschool, our Math teacher Ms Garcia (who happens to be my bestfriend's mom,) serves us a very rich creamy dessert. It was like a special treat whenever we, her daughter's friends and classmates, would invade their place.

My bestfriend gave me a recipe for the dessert, which we just called Cathedral (different from Cathedral windows) it was a combination of nestle all-purpose cream, condensed milk and gelatine. We or I never really bothered to know what its called...Well, this is actually how it would look like:

So lately I have been seeing reviews about the Italian dessert, Panna cotta. According to wikipedia, Panna cotta is an Italian dessert made by simmering together cream, milk and sugar, mixing this with gelatine, and letting it cool until set. An Italian phrase which literally means "cooked cream", it generally refers to a creamy, set dessert from the Northern Italian region of Piedmont.

I got really curious because of the description's similarity in my way of cooking Ms. Garcia's recipe. Then, while at the confectioner's section of the grocery last week, I noticed a Panna Cotta box mix...so I got two and tried it yesterday. Just to make sure if this is the same dessert back home.

The recipe calls for 200 grams whipped cream, 300ml milk and the mix (which I think is sugar and gelatine).














In a pot, heat up milk and cream while mixing slowly.

Pour in the mixture and stir well. Let the mixture boil still mixing continously for 2 minutes.

Remove from heat.

Transfer the mixture into a container or ramekin. I prefer this tupperware jel-mold though.
Let it cool and then refrigerate.

The kids were helping me prepare this dessert yesterday so they were eager to try it too, especially older son, who loves baking and everything in the kitchen.

They were excited seeing this star on the bottom lol...I remember though, Ms Garcia would put colored gelatine over or cut up jelly ace (those we buy in packs which comes in different flavors! Yum!)

After just one bite, I could therefore conclude (lol), that panna cotta is definitely what we had back in highschool, only we werent quite sure of what its called. Also, the texture was a little different, this one was rather creamier, I did not use an electric mixer so it didn't turn out how I was expecting it.

Some parts though did have the texture and appearance of Ms Garcia's recipe like below. I guess I'd stick to the original recipe after all.