Patriotic Panna Cotta Shooters

This year has been a blur. A dream. I blinked and found myself here: third day of summer, nearly July. Did I really write a book? I must have. Did I really go to New York and get chatty about it with strangers? Signs point to yes. And there's yet another great thing happening for the book  - which I will reveal very soon.  Right now life seems very surreal and it's moving so quickly!

It'll happen again. I'll blink and we'll be lighting sparklers and watching a night sky filled with fireworks. With that in mind, getting a jump-start on July 4th treats seems like a good idea!

These little dessert shooters are part panna cotta, part fruity cocktail.  The bottom layer is a sweet red grenadine syrup. The next layer is a tropical-tasting coconut panna cotta and then a little blue curaçao (orange liqueur) gets poured on top. And my favorite part? You guessed it. Those little edible confetti stars. You can usually find them where Wilton products are sold, but here's a link if you're looking to purchase online.  

Patriotic Panna Cotta Shooters

Yield: about six 3oz. servings                                                                          [click for printable version]

Technically the 3 oz. size I made is a little large for a "shooter" so I served mine with a small dessert spoon. But feel free to adjust the quantities to suit your purpose. If you're serving these to kiddos, blue kool-aid or fruit-flavored blue gelatin would be a nice stand-in for the curaçao.

6 oz. grenadine syrup

1/2 tsp. powdered gelatin

1 tbsp. cold water

1 cup lite coconut milk

1/2 cup half and half

3 tbsp.  sugar

1 tsp. coconut extract

3 oz. blue curaçao

Wilton gold star edible glitter, or other star-shaped sprinkles

1. Pour 1 oz. of grenadine into six 3 oz. clear glasses.  Freeze grenadine solid, and keep glasses stored in freezer until panna cotta portion is ready.
2. In a small condiment cup, sprinkle the powdered gelatin over the cold water and let stand until absorbed. Set aside.
3. Combine the coconut milk, half and half and sugar in a saucepan.  Heat the mixture until just boiling.  
4. Microwave the gelatin mixture for 7-10 seconds, until melted and liquid.  Remove the milk mixture from heat source and whisk in melted gelatin. Add coconut extract. Allow mixture to cool significantly.
5. Remove glasses of frozen grenadine from freezer and very slowly pour in 2 oz. of cooled coconut panna cotta into each glass. A little red from the grenadine may bleed into the white panna cotta, but as it stands the red should settle back down to the bottom. Refrigerate glasses until panna cotta is set and grenadine layer has completely thawed. Just before serving pour over 1/2 oz. blue curaçao and sprinkle with edible star glitter.

Note:  These can be made 1 day ahead, but the stars should be sprinkled on just before serving. They will completely dissolve after about 30 minutes of floating in the blue curaçao.

link Patriotic Panna Cotta Shooters By Heather Baird Published: Friday, June 22, 2012 Friday, June 22, 2012 Patriotic Panna Cotta Shooters Recipe