Tags
agar agar, chocolate, coconut, crunchy cookies, curry, Daring Bakers, fail, florentines, ginger, mango, panna cotta, vanilla, vegan, vegetarian
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 completed this challenge on three separate days, beginning with the cookies.
I’ve had florentines before, but hadn’t ever made them. They were always filed away in my brainbox as fancy cookies, so I was really surprised by just how easy they were to make!
Since I was planning to make two different kinds of panna cottas, I divided the dough in half for two different kinds of florentines. To the first half, I added 2 tablespoons of smashed crystallized ginger. Then I added 6 tablespoons of cocoa powder to the other half. Mmm, yep.
For me, these ended up taking twice as long to bake than the recipe states, but they came out perfectly! Both versions are delicious, but the ginger ones really won me over. I will most definitely keep these cookies in my rep! By the way, I subbed golden syrup for the dark corn syrup, which was the only change that I made to the recipe base.
Things didn’t go quite so well for me with the panna cottas. I had never even had one before, but in my mind, there was a pretty clear picture of how they should be: creamy, yet firm enough to hold a shape. I wanted to use agar agar in place of the gelatin, but knew that it couldn’t be a direct substitution since agar agar is quite a bit stronger. (Note: my first time using it was for last month’s DB challenge! :)) Since there wasn’t a recipe in the challenge utilizing it, I turned to google. A lot of sources say that 1 tsp agar agar should be used to 1 cup liquid, but then others say that that creates too firm of a panna cotta.
The first one I made was this vanilla vegetarian panna cotta from Delectable. I followed the recipe to a T, with one change: I wanted to make cookies ‘n cream panna cottas. Originally, I was going to add ground up Oreos to the liquid base, but then I ate them all. Oops. But! That led to an even better idea. Remember the chocolate florentines? Well, I ground up 7 of then in my food processor and mixed those into the base! This is ~fancy~ cookies ‘n cream panna cotta, folks.
I poured the panna cotta base into two small glasses, three ramekins, and a coffee mug and let them chill in the fridge for an hour. I also decided to drizzle some white chocolate on the chocolate florentines.
The good news: the panna cottas set! :) The bad news: they are way too firm. Even Jell-O shouldn’t be this firm. :(
I thought about fixing the panna cotta by remelting it and adding more milk/cream. I might still do this, but thought I’d just give my second version a try and use even less agar agar to liquid.
For this one, I went the vegan route with a coconut panna cotta by Enlightened Cooking. Now, must taste buds have always been anti coconut, but LOVE coconut milk-based Thai curries. This led me to a theory that I would like a coconut panna cotta with curry in it. I couldn’t not try it out.
For this recipe, I used 1/4 cup more coconut milk and 1/4 teaspoon less agar agar than the recipe calls for in hopes of a softer panna cotta. (Well, and I used 2 oz. less yogurt simply because of the amount in the container…but I figured with the other change, it would be fine.) Instead of the vanilla, I added 1/2 teaspoon panang curry powder which added some nice little red-orange flecks. While I was pouring the base into the cups and ramekins, it already seemed creamier than the previous recipe, but maybe this was because it was lacking cookie bits.
I made a mango sauce to serve with it and sprinkled some more of the curry powder for garnish. And what else? Ginger florentines!
Good news: I love the flavors! :) Bad news: a too firm panna cotta yet again. :(
All I have to say is Jessica – 0, Agar Agar – 2. At least both were pretty?
As frustrating as this challenge was, I am glad that Mallory picked it. Now I know how easy florentines are, but I now also know how tricky agar agar can be. There are photos of some very creamy vegetarian and vegan panna cottas in the Daring Bakers forum, so I’ll definitely be trying some of those out!
Meanwhile, anyone fancy a bowl of gelatinous hockey pucks? :P
For the challenge recipes posted by Mallory, click here!
bake me away! 
I found the agar-agar panna cotta to be ridiculously firm (abiding by the 1 tsp per cup of liquid rule). I greatly reduced the amount in the second panna cotta I made and it turned out with a much better texture. Your panna cotta and florentines look divine – great photos!
I was surprised to see the word failure with your pictures. Your panna cotta looks so pretty! I’m sorry they didn’t taste as good as they look, I’ve yet to try mine.
Sorry your pannacotta was too firm! Your lace cookies look wonderful. I made them for the first time this Christmas and couldn’t stop popping them in my mouth!
Woah – I totally almost did a curry layer for my panna cotta but was scared it wouldn’t taste good. Way to actually be *daring* – and your pictures are incredible.
Wow! I love the last picture of your gelatinous hockey pucks–that’s crazy how firm they turned out. But I just love your idea of crushing up cookies to put in them–and also the use of coconut milk. You never cease to amaze me, Jessica!
My Florentine cookies tasted wonderful, but I ended up having to cut them out of a “sheet” of baked Florentine when they were done. I clearly made my spoonfuls too big and too close together, because I ended up with a large pan of solid baked cookie when they came out of the oven!
Nicely done, Daring Baker :) Can’t wait to see what March’s challenge will bring!
Wow, I am way humbled by your creative streak in this challenge! I really like the flavor combinations you chose and the strides you took in agar agar management. Also, your chocolate florentines with white chocolate drizzle are beautiful. Tennis clap for you! *tennis clap*
I just like the word ramekin.
Ha~ I love coconut milk! I love chocolate! It looks a little bit complicated to me but I’ll give it a try.
For more vegetarian baking recipes, you can visit the following website:
http://www.fourgreensteps.com/community/recipes/desserts-a-goodies-
Check it out! You’ll love the desserts there.
Ashlae – It makes me feel better that I’m not the only one. Will check out yours because I’m curious as to how much you reduced it!
souffledays – The upside was that they were a cinch to remove from the cups. ;) Hope yours came out well!
Liz – I didn’t know I’d like them so much! I’m usually more into chewy cookies.
Victoria – I keep meaning to tell you that I finally tried a few little Vosges bars, one being the Naga, and it was my favorite! Probably some influence there… You should try adding some curry to hot chocolate to convince yourself, then use some in your baking.
Kylie – They use agar agar to make the gel in petri dishes just to give you an idea of its firmness possibilities! Mine wasn’t that firm, but still… I think I just like to make things harder even when I don’t know what I’m doing. :) As for the cookies, I kept reading about people having that problem in the forum, so I obeyed the recipe and kept them small and well-spaced. Seemed to work! It’s fun not knowing what to expect with these challenges. :)
Mary – Thanks! I’m a weirdo.
Jill – It is a good word. I’m glad Rachel had some so I could utilize it. Also, I almost used “mouthfeel” in this post (as in, “It tasted great, but had a terrible mouthfeel!”), but just couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Anthony – Thanks for the link!
They all sound delicious, it’s to bad they set up too firm. I really love the look of your Florentines. The ginger ones look so perfectly golden and the chocolate ones sound fantastic!
Hilarious! Sorry your agar agar refused to play along. But I’m going to run to the kitchen and make florentines with cocoa powder–what a great idea!
The question is.. were they still edible? hehe it could be your own spin on the dessert.. panna cotta is quite lovely, I’m sorry it didn’t work out.. I had an epic fail yesterday that left me frustrated and deflated… whahhh
beautiful photos and clips of the process. great job!
Love your florentine cookies, they look perfect! Oh too bad for the panna cotta but I love the flavor combinations you tried especially the coconut panna cotta with the curry powder!
Beautiful pictures..Wow looks fabulous and wonderful flavors… Absolutely love it. Great work on this challenge.
Pavithra
http://www.dishesfrommykitchen.com
Panang curry powder is so creative and your hockey pucks were hysterical. Great job on the challenge!
so sorry to heat about your panna cotta. i had some problems too using gelatin, never tried agar agar before.
the florentine cookies look so good. love the sound of ginger cookies. I’ll do that next time. thanks for sharing Jessica
Maggie – The florentines were my favorite…obviously. ;)
dreambird – Since a lot of people thought they were too sweet, I thought the cocoa powder might cut the sugaryness down a bit. Hope they turned out well!
Elle Marie – Well, I ate the curry one and only had a few bites of the cookies ‘n cream one. Not a very appetizing texture! Sorry about your fail…I seem to be having a lot of them lately!
Tia – Thanks!
chef_d – I am definitely wanting to try the coconut/curry combo again!
Pavithra – Thanks!
Mary – I feel like they could be used for target practice by someone who’s into bb guns!
Roxana – Thanks! I probably should just try the posted recipes with gelatin so I know what panna cotta is supposed to be like…
I like all your flavour combinations, and I admire your persistance. Sorry they turned out too jelly-like. I used agar and mine were meltingly soft and creamy . Maybe you need to use less agar.
My first DB challenge worked with the agar agar :) i love the way your cookies have laced out!!!
Wow, I love your chocolate florentine cookies!
I love that they are dovered with dark chocolate and then sprinkled with white!
And I love the idea of coconut panna cotta
Great job on that challenge :)
Experienced the same thing with my panna cotta. Too stiff. Plan to re-work it later by adding more milk!
Great job on the cookies!
Thanks for the good writeup. It in reality was a entertainment account it.
Look advanced to more brought agreeable from you!
However, how can we keep up a correspondence?
I made my cookies n’ cream panna cotta and had the same issue, it just went too firm. But my chocolate panna cotta was perfect! And I also observed, the more it stays longer in the chiller the tastier it becomes.