Daring Bakers: Panna Cotta and Florentine Cookies

Welcome to my first Daring Bakers post! (not to be confused with Daring Cooks). This time around, you'll be getting two recipes for the price of one!! Panna Cotta + Florentine Cookies. This month's challenge was posed by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen and it's downright brilliant, if you ask me. This is good stuff people.

Panna Cotta. I was just going to follow the recipe that was posted in the Daring Bakers recipe forums, but I found a coconut panna cotta recipe from (guess where??!!) Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Cooking. If you haven't already bought this book, you need to. At the very least, follow her wonderful food blog 101 Cookbooks. (Ok, ok. I'm finished with my shameless plugs now!)

It just so happened that I had a can of coconut milk in my pantry that I had picked up at Trader Joe's months ago, so it was basically a shoe in for me to use Heidi's recipe. I was really happy with the way it turned out and how EASY it is to make, but if you're using agar flakes, not flour...you will probably need to filter them out if they don't dissolve fully. Mine didn't and they ended up being a hard layer at the bottom of the panna cotta. Whoops. I don't see any reason not to use gelatin instead of agar, unless you're strictly vegan. 

Coconut Panna Cotta with Red Wine Syrup
adapted from Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Cooking

Ingredients:

1 can light coconut milk

2 ¼ cups organic milk

⅓ cup demara sugar

2 tbsp agar flakes

½ cup red wine

3 tbsp demara sugar

Directions:

Lightly oil 4 or 5 ramekins and set aside. Mix all ingredients in a saucepan and let sit for 10 minutes to activate the agar flakes. Then, slowly bring mixture to a simmer and let agar flakes dissolve. If the flakes do not dissolve, strain through a fine sieve, pressing the flakes through as well. Pour into ramekins to chill and set for at least an hour.

While panna cotta is chilling, boil red wine and sugar in a skillet or saucepan (I just used the same pan that I used for the panna cotta!) until the bubbles get thick and its quantity is reduced by half - about ¼ cup. Pour into bowl and let syrup cool completely.

Slide a knife around the edge of each ramekin to plate panna cotta. Drizzle red wine syrup over the top of the panna cotta and enjoy!

Florentine Cookie Sandwiches with Nutella
recipe adapted from the Daring Baker’s forums

The original recipe called for quick or instant oats, but since I didn’t have any I just used regular rolled oats. The result was a cookie that was ridiculously thicker than it was supposed to be, but they were still delicious. I might recommend reducing the amount of oats, if you’re going for the real thing, because I had to add more milk to thin the cookie batter a bit. Other substitutions from the original recipe: molasses instead of corn syrup, but you can also use honey for a lighter flavor and color. Also, goat milk instead of regular cow’s milk, because that’s what I had, it definitely adds a richness to the cookie!

Ingredients:

⅔ cup unsalted, clarified butter

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup demara sugar

⅔ cup whole wheat (or all purpose) flour

¼ cup blackstrap molasses

¼ cup goat milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 pinch of salt

Nutella

Directions:

Preheat oven to moderately hot 375°F (190°C). Prepare your baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then remove from heat. To the melted butter add oats, sugar, flour, corn syrup, milk, vanilla, and salt. Mix well.

The mixture should look something like this (though, mine did not-it was MUCH thicker)

Drop a tablespoon full, three inches (75 mm) apart, onto your prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly with the back of your tablespoon, or use a spatula. Bake in preheated oven for 6-8 minutes, until cookies are golden brown. Cool completely on the baking sheets. Peel the cookies from the silpat or parchment and place face down on a wire rack set over a sheet of wax/parchment paper (to keep counters clean).  Spread a tablespoon of nutella on the bottom/flat side of your cookie, sandwiching another (flat end) cookie atop the nutella.




Peace, Love & Bagels,

A PL&B Original Recipe: Coconut Crusted Tofu

Okay, unfortunately I had no pictures to go with this post, so I had to gank them from various places around the internet (if you click on them, it'll take you to the source).


I am so excited to introduce you to another PL&B Original Recipe: Coconut Crusted Tofu!


This recipe was inspired by some coconut crusted tilapia that Emily made for Brandon and I a few weeks ago. I was so enamored with the fish, that I really wanted to retry the coconut crusting on something else. I thought about doing it on tempeh - which I might still do - but tofu seemed like the appropriate medium. Plus I had some in my fridge.


While eating our coconut crusted tilapia (and celebrating Tu B'Shevat with four bottles of wine) we pondered some life-sized questions. In a Tu B'Shevat Seder, you explore four worlds in representing them with different fruits and glasses of wine:


The Physical World - a fruit that is inedible outside and edible inside (we represented this with a clementine). Plus one glass of white wine


The Emotional World - a fruit that is edible outside and inedible inside (we represented this world with a date). Plus, a glass of wine that is half red, half white


The Intellectual World - a fruit that is completely edible (represented by a fig) and one glass of wine that is 1/4 white and 3/4 red


The Spiritual World - no fruits, just a glass of red wine with one drop of white


What do these worlds mean to you? Why do you think they would be represented by those specific types of fruits?

Coconut Crusted Tofu
over a bed of wilted cabbage

The tofu can also be baked instead of pan-fried. I accidentally burned the tofu because I was using a [too] hot cast-iron skillet. Baking might make them a bit more enjoyably brown instead of dark and crispy like mine were.


Ingredients:

1 package tofu

1 cup flour

1 tbs cornstarch

1 egg

1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or not - your choice)

oil or clarified butter for pan-frying

half head of red cabbage, quartered and cut into thin ribbons

fine grain sea salt

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or clarified butter

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

a handful or two of raisins (or chopped dates)

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to garnish (optional)

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and saute the onion for a few minutes, with a few pinches of salt. Stir in the garlic and cabbage and cook for just a minute or so, until the cabbage softens up a bit. Stir in the raisins and the vinegar and cook one more minute. Remove from heat, remember, the cabbage will continue to get more and more tender even after you remove it from the heat, do your best to avoid overcooking it - where it collapses entirely. Plate your wilted cabbage and garnish with a bit of Parmesan if desired.

Drain and slice tofu as desired, I prefer flat slices as opposed to cubes. Beat egg and put in a bowl that is big enough to dip your slices of tofu. Mix the cornstarch with the flour and pile it on a plate or bowl for dipping. Place coconut on another plate or bowl for dipping. First, dip the tofu in the flour mixture so it’s lightly coated. Next, dunk coated tofu in egg. Finally, coat with coconut and set aside. Heat enough oil (or butter) to coat the bottom of your skillet on medium heat. Pan fry the coconut dipped tofu until the coconut is golden brown then flip and brown the other side. Set on a paper towel or over a cooking rack to drain.

Serve tofu over bed of cabbage.




Peace, Love & Bagels,

(oh and just an aside, what do you think about me doing a post series about "A Week In The Life Of My Stomach"? Got the idea from Ashley)