Many European cultures claim variations on milk desserts. Crème Brulée for the French, Custard for the English, Flan for the Spanish. The Italians have Panna Cotta, which I'd never made or tried until recently. It's been on my mind to try recently, but I wanted to get past the sugar glut of Christmas.
When I saw the carton of eggnog in the fridge, I had an aha moment. What if I used eggnog for the panna cotta. Well, I wasn't the first to come up with the idea, when I did a search on the internet. So I carried on, adapting this and that until I came up with this dessert. It's refreshing, surprisingly light, and carried just the right post-festive flavour with the eggnog. I'll be making this again with regular milk, or maybe coconut or almond milk. Hmmm. More possibilities.
Eggnog Panna Cotta
1/2 cup cream
1 envelope (2 teaspoons) unflavoured gelatin
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 cups eggnog
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
Sprinkle the gelatin over the cream in a small saucepan. Heat gently and stir until the gelatin is completed dissolved. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Stir in the eggnog, vanilla and freshly grated nutmeg. Strain through a wire mesh strainer to remove any possible lumps.
Pour into individual dishes and chill until set, at least 4 hours. Serve with fresh fruit or a fruit sauce. Here, I've added a dollop of Blueberry Sauce that I canned last summer.
