milo panna cotta with milo cereal rubble
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Ahhhh a food "earworm" ....
When I opened the tin of biscuit crumbs in last weeks post I thought "just like a Milo tin" and that's all it took for Milo, Milo, Milo, Milo to be stuck in my head.
"Solved" with a trip to the supermarket where I bought myself a tin of Milo and a brand of gelatine sheets I hadn't tried before... all came together as today's Milo panna cotta. We have loved Milo here in Oz since it was first launched in 1934 at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, brainchild of Australian Thomas Mayne.
Milo /ˈmaɪloʊ/ is a chocolate and malt powder that is mixed with hot or cold water or milk to produce a beverage popular mainly in Australia and New Zealand and some other parts of the world. wikipedia
'Milo' takes it name from Milo Of Croton a 6th century BC champion wrestler. Milo products to this day have sport related themes.
Apart from the drinking powder, Milo comes in other products too like premix, ice-cream and the cereal I'm using today for the topping adding part of the much needed textural crunch.
Lets start with gelatine leaves that are the setting agent in our panna cotta.
New to leaves? Leaves are used for a smoother mouth feel and/or a clearer finish. There is no gelatine after taste either. Great product for panna cotta. Somewhat confusing bloom strength grading system from bronze to titanium. Bloom strength is how firm your jelly (Jello) will be.
I usually buy gold or occasionally titanium gelatine leaves from chef supply stores. I was happy to see gelatine leaves in the supermarket but surprised when I purchased it's not marked on pack what strength the leaves are. Checking McKenzies online I found out 'McKenzie’s Gelatine powder has bloom strength of 210 – 240 g (Platinum strength). McK Gelatine leaves have a bloom strength of 220 – 250g (also Platinum strength).'
Oh. That was my though "Oh" there may have been a slight expletive following that. Just a little suprised but I love McKenzies, it's the brand of baking powder and soda I use.
McKenzies have a recipe for panna cotta with 6 gelatine leaves on their site. That's too much for our panna cottas so I made two batches with far less gelatine, one with 3 leaves and one with two... now I'd prefer two or less but for no fail getting the little ones out of the ramekins lets go with three where you still get a nice wobble particularly on the moulded ones.
Panna cotta is easy, it's the same as making homemade jelly or Jello just with dairy for the liquid. This recipe makes four 125 ml serves (four 1/2 cups) or eight 1/4 cups. Set in glasses or in ramekins to turn out.
Ingredients Panna Cotta
250ml of double cream
250ml of milk (I use 2% because that's all I had)
I tsp of pure vanilla extract
15 grams of sugar
60 grams of Milo powder
3 platinum gelatine leaves
Fresh raspberries for top
milo cereal, lightly crushed cocoa nibs and freeze dried raspberries to top panna cotta
Ingredients for Chocolate Rubble
Chocolate flake breakfast cereal (I used Milo cereal)
Cocoa nibs, broken roughly
Freeze dried raspberries
Optional extra toppings
Chocolate sauce
Berry sauce
Vanilla whipped cream with Milo powder on top
Method
Soak three *gelatine leaves in a bowl with three cups of cold water for 5 to 10 minutes. After that time you should be ready to use, remove leaves from bowl and squeeze out excess water.
Put the cream, milk, sugar, vanilla into saucepan and heat until almost boiling but not... you know you can see teeny bubbles starting to form around edge of pan.
Quickly add the milo powder and whisk to completely dissolve.
gelatine leaves with water squeezed out
Swap the whisk for spoon you don't want to add extra air/bubbles at this stage.
Remove saucepan from heat and add the soaked gelatine leaves that you have squeezed the water from.
Stir with spoon for at least 3 minutes, even when you think it's okay after one minute the *three minutes stirring ensures the gelatine is fully incorporated.
Divide the mixture between the glasses or ramekins you are using.
Leave to cool, then refridgerate (covered) for six to 24 hours.
unmoulded from 1/4 cup ramekin Milo panna cotta
inside texture
You want to serve your panna cotta chilled but not "fridge cold", leave glasses at room temperature for 10 minutes before topping and serving. To unmould panna cotta, dip the base/sides of each ramekin quickly into hot water and gently turn out.
Top with chocolate rubble and fresh raspberries, don't worry if you don't have all matching glasses the same amount of rubble/raspberries will tie the dessert theme together.
Use to optional sauces or whipped cream as desired.
Notes:
* don't have Milo available in your supermarket, look out for it in your asian grocery store.
* if on the off chance after adding your gelatine and stirring 3 minutes you have a little gelatine undissolved in your mix you can put your saucepan on a gentle heat, stirring until it's melted.
* you can omit the sugar completely if you don't have a sweet tooth, there is sugar already in the Milo.
Happy Baking :)