Cereal Milk Panna Cotta
It’s true – cereal milk is a thing. Momofuku Milk Bar made it so for anyone over ten. In essence, cereal milk tastes like the bottom of the cereal bowl – it pulls you straight back to childhood, to that spot where you sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the TV, watching Saturday morning cartoons. It’s the reason W always asks for a straw along with his bowl of cereal. I had been contemplating how to use cereal milk in a way that puts it at the forefront – just the flavoured milk itself, no gritty, soggy bits – and panna cotta seemed like just the thing.
Also, I was challenged to make something using cereal. Which in a twist of what’s-old-is-new-again appears to be trendy these days – who knew cereal was so retro? There are cafés dedicated to it, even!
As I may have mentioned in the past, panna cotta is about as simple as dessert gets – it’s basically sweetened cream, set with gelatin. It’s an Italian thing, and verging on fancy, depending on where you get it and how you serve it. It seemed like the right move to bash up some crunchy cereal to sprinkle on top in order to texturally deliver the best of both worlds – smooth, sweet milk with crunchy-sweet cereal suspended on its surface.
To make cereal milk, you heat it to steaming and infuse it with cereal. I know, right? Exactly what you do without thinking when you eat a bowl of cereal, with some heat to speed up the process. We had Chex in the house because Christmas (party mix!), and the chocolate kind adds a dimension that taps into the cereal milk of my childhood dreams, as well as adding sweetness to the crunch on top. (You can compost the softened cereal, or if you’re really hardcore about not throwing anything out, stir it into pancake or muffin batter. It’s true – I’ve done this.)
You could make individual panna cottas for a dinner gathering, or make plated domes by rubbing round ramekins with nonstick spray and unmoulding them once they’re well chilled. Or if you want something fun for a party, fill Chinese soup spoons (I get them by the three-pack at the dollar store and keep them in the basement), which set in about 10 minutes in the fridge and are fun to serve.
Cereal Milk Panna Cotta
AuthorJulie
In a medium saucepan, heat the cream and 1-2 cups of the cereal until it’s steaming; remove from the heat and let sit for half an hour or so to infuse the cream with the flavour of the cereal. Strain and return the cream to the pot; sprinkle the gelatin overtop and let sit for a few minutes to soften.
Turn on the heat and warm the infused cream, whisking until the brown sugar and gelatin are dissolved. Divide among ramekins or other small dishes, or Chinese soup spoons. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours, or until set.
To make the dust, put the Chex into a zip-lock bag and crush with the back of a spoon or rolling pin - you want some texture, not total dust. Sprinkle over the panna cotta just before serving.
Makes 6-8 panna cottas - or lots of spoons.
Ingredients
Directions
In a medium saucepan, heat the cream and 1-2 cups of the cereal until it’s steaming; remove from the heat and let sit for half an hour or so to infuse the cream with the flavour of the cereal. Strain and return the cream to the pot; sprinkle the gelatin overtop and let sit for a few minutes to soften.
Turn on the heat and warm the infused cream, whisking until the brown sugar and gelatin are dissolved. Divide among ramekins or other small dishes, or Chinese soup spoons. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours, or until set.
To make the dust, put the Chex into a zip-lock bag and crush with the back of a spoon or rolling pin - you want some texture, not total dust. Sprinkle over the panna cotta just before serving.
Makes 6-8 panna cottas - or lots of spoons.
* I partnered with Life Made Delicious to come up with something delicious using Chex cereal!
Yum! Can I make this using full fat coconut milk to avoid the lactose? Or … throw caution to the wind and just give it a go, right?
Heidi
YOU = DIVINE FOOD GODDESS. I used to buy my little sister’s cereal milk (for a nickel) because it was my favouritest part of cereal. Up until recently I used to put cereal in a pitcher of milk and soak it so I could take sips of cereal milk. Now this? SWOON! I LOVE YOU JULIE. Seriously. Not the scary stalker kind of love. The floaty, buzzy, feet-don’t-touch-the ground kind of love, to be clear.
I love this idea! I also want to say that I really appreciate you identifying up front that you’re promoting a product. You do it really subtly and with class! Kudos to you!