Hojicha Panna Cotta
Inspired by the hojicha panna cotta at Rintaro. It's a simple and light dessert but so satisfying and delicious. The textures work together so well -- the silky, fluffy panna cotta; the thick syrup; the satisfying crisp of the almond cookie -- these all come together in a harmonious bite. I like how the panna cotta has a relatively light flavor, but is contrasted by the concentrated flavor of the syrup. Ignore the not so good picture -- I forgot to take a picture of the final result, oops.
Active Time: 1 hr
Total Time: 4 hr 30 min
Ingredients
panna cotta
> heavy cream (2.5 cups)
> whole milk (1.5 cups)
> sugar (5 tbsp)
> ground hojicha tea (1.5 tsp)
> powdered gelatin (1 tbsp)
> water (3 tbsp)
syrup
> sugar (1 cup)
> water (1/2 cup)
> ground hojicha tea (2 tbsp)
almond cookies
> pastry flour (3 cups)
> baking soda (1/4 tsp)
> butter (1 stick)
> water (1/3 cup)
> sliced almonds (1 cup)
> light brown sugar (1.5 cups)
Instructions
panna cotta
1. Put the water and gelatin in a small bowl and let stand for 5 minutes. It should turn into a jello-like texture.
2. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine cream, milk, sugar, and tea and mix well. Gradually heat the mixture until it registers 160F / 70C on a thermometer, stirring occasionally to prevent the cream from scalding.
3. Remove from the heat and whisk in the gelatin mixture. Let stand until at room temperature.
4. Divide evenly amongst eight 8-oz ramekins. Lightly cover with plastic wrap, transfer to the fridge, and chill for at least 4 hours.
syrup
1. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine sugar, water, and tea and mix well. Cook down until the syrup has thickened slightly and turned chestnut brown (it should have the consistency of warm maple syrup.
2. Transfer to a bowl and let it cool to room temperature. Cover and keep refrigerated.
almond cookies
1. Prep: line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper. Sift the flour and baking soda together in a large bowl.
2. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter with the water.
3. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the almonds, and mix to combine. Add the sugar, and mix to combine. Stir in the flour mixture and mix until a smooth dough forms. Let cool slightly until the dough is beginning to firm up a bit.
4. Transfer the dough to the prepared pan and spread into an even layer. Transfer to the freezer and freeze for 90m, or until completely frozen.
5. Cut the dough in half into two 8 by 4 inch rectangles (along the 4-inch direction). Slice the rectangle of dough into wafer-thin cookies, aiming for a thickness of about 2mm.
6. Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper. Arrange the cookies on the baking sheet, spacing them about 1/2 inch apart.
7. Bake until the cookies are golden brown, or about 13-15m, rotating the pan half way through. Remove the pan from the oven and let the cookies on the pan, continung to crisp up as they cool.
8.
putting everything together:
- serve the panna cotta cold with a small pitcher of the syrup for pouring and the almond cookies alongside.
Notes/Tips:
> The panna cotta keeps well in the fridge for ~3 days, the cookies for ~1 week, and the syrup for ~1 month. So if you're planning to host, you can definitely make this in advance!
> This will probably make way more cookies than you need (probably close to 100, if you slice it as thinly as advertised). You could consider decreasing down the ingredient amounts, but keep in mind the thickness that you want to maintain in the pan.
> It is _very_ hard to actually slice the cookies into the thinness that is advertised by the recipe; just do your best and slice as thinly as you can. The end result will probably be a little thicker than what you'll get at Rintaro.
> Be careful not to over-reduce the syrup. The first time that I tried making this, I over-reduced it by way too much and it ended up becoming essentially a block of solid sugar. The original recipe suggested reducing for ~35m, but I think that's way too much. Something closer to ~15m is probably sufficient, depending on your oven.