Sugar-Free Blood Orange Strawberry Panna Cotta

In true “new year, new you” fashion, I actually took my stubborn butt to the doctor last month and started taking medication for my diabetes again. It’s been a long time and a much needed thing, and yes I waited too long and my mother is finally not harping on me about it. Woo, adulting! Essentially that means I had my first sugar-free holiday season in a very long time.

It’s hard getting back in the swing of a certain “lifestyle”. Sure, I stay away from regular soda and over indulging on sweets, but that’s about as far as “watching my blood sugars” has gone for quite some time. If loving carbs is wrong, I don’t wanna be right, damnit.

The next big “sweets” holiday is fast approaching: Valentine’s Day is just a few weeks away and already the aisles of stores are jam-packed with chocolates and sweets and other heart-shaped boxes filled with diabetic comas.

And then there’s the pressure of the big, fancy meal. Do you go out for dinner? Stay home and cook something stunning from scratch? Almost burn the house down and order pizza instead? Say screw it and drink a bottle of wine and call it a day?

These are tough decisions, people.

Since Valentine’s day falls on a weekday this year, any plans of date night are dependent upon the dance/basketball/bio parent visitation schedule. Which basically means that we’ll be eating at home. So thanks to Pinterest running permanently 1-3 holidays ahead, I’ve been able to start stock piling ideas for a fun and fancy home cooked Valentine’s Day dinner.

One of the dessert recipes that really caught my eye was panna cotta. Have you ever had it? Truthfully, the only thing I knew about panna cotta before making it this week was that the contestants on CHOPPED are pretty much incapable of getting it to set in the blast chiller before time runs out.

So, what is Panna Cotta?

In a nutshell, panna cotta is an Italian dessert where milk or cream is thickened with gelatin. I’ve been describing it as the love child from a one-night-stand between a smoothie and Jell-O. Common flavor elements include rum, coffee, vanilla, and fruit. Case in point, the recipe I looked up was for a strawberry variety.

Do you know what fruit is not really in season in the North East in the middle of winter? Strawberries, naturally. Sure, you can find them any time of year but there’s no comparison to that of local, in-season ones. While checking my options in the produce department, I remembered one of my other favorite fruits that actually IS is season this time of year: blood oranges.

Also – note to self: refer to blood oranges as “red oranges” if you ever expect your child to eat one. Hayla ran away screaming when I offered her a piece. Whoops.

Panna cotta consists of two basic steps: first of which is dissolving gelatin into hot (but not boiling) milk or cream, and then adding some sort of flavoring and sweeteners to it once the milk is cool.  Secondly, allowing the entire mixture to set in some sort of mold, dish, or ramekin until it becomes a fancy, jiggly treat.

I used equal parts of blood orange and strawberry, with 2 tablespoons of sweetener and a splash of vanilla extract for flavor. Use a food processor or emulsion blender for a quick puree and then push it through a fine mesh strainer to catch all the pulpy bits and strawberry seeds.

Add in some of the orange zest once the mixture is cooled for an extra burst of flavor and some pretty orange specs in the finished dessert.

Sugar-Free Blood Orange Strawberry Panna Cotta

 

Print

Ingredients

• 1½ cups whole milk
• 2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
• 1 cup strawberries
• 1 cup blood orange wedges, peeled
• 2 tablespoons artificial sweetener (or sugar)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Additional strawberries and orange wedges for garnish (optional)

Instructions

1. Using a food processor or emulsion blender, puree blood oranges and strawberries until smooth. Push mixture through a fine mesh strainer to remove pulp and seeds.
2. Add sweetener, vanilla, and orange zest to fruit puree.
3. Cook milk and gelatin over low heat, stirring until gelatin dissolves (do not boil). Set aside to cool.
4. Combine fruit puree with cooled milk mixture and pour into oiled ramekins or molds.
5. Refrigerate for 4 hours (or overnight).
6. To serve, run a butter knife or spatula around the edge of the ramekin/mold to release panna cotta. Turn upside down on a plate and garnish.

3.5.3226

If you like this recipe, please share! And as always, if you make it, let me know how it turns out for you! Make sure you check out my Valentine’s Day round up of other great sugar-free and low-sugar dessert recipes!