Soft, velvety-smooth vanilla panna cotta, deep, rich coffee liqueur and delectably aromatic gin make for the most amazingly delicious trio!

This luxurious Italian dessert is the perfect way to finish off a dinner or simply give yourself a scrumptious treat…

This recipe for vanilla panna cotta served with a gin espresso martini syrup is a sure way to bring a smile to any gin lover’s face. What’s more, it’s really easy to do at home and great for making ahead of time if you’re having a dinner party and want an easy yet impressive dessert for gin pals.

We recommend making the panna cotta and the syrup the night before so that you can just pull them out of the fridge when you are ready to serve dessert.

Buon appetite!

What is panna cotta?

Panna cotta is a set cream dessert that originates from Italy. At its most basic, panna cotta is made by mixing cream with gelatin and leaving the mixture to set.

The cream can be flavoured with anything from coffee and chocolate to fruits and herbs, and you may even find savoury panna cotta recipes on some restaurant menus.

Panna cotta can be set and served in a glass or it can be set in a mould and tipped out onto a plate so that it stands up on its own.

You can find out the difference between panna cotta and other set cream desserts like flan or crème brûlée (along with a fantastic chocolate panna cotta recipe!) here.

In the meantime, give this beautifully boozy coffee and vanilla panna cotta a go!

Vanilla Panna Cotta With Espresso Martini Syrup

Prep time: 10 minutes | Set time: at least 4 hours | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

For the panna cotta:
3 gelatine leaves
250ml whole milk
250ml double cream
1 tbsp Craft Gin Club Vanilla Syrup
25g caster sugar

For the espresso martini syrup:
200ml Craft Gin Club Gin-spresso Martini Cocktail Syrup
1 tbsp gin
1 tbsp coffee liqueur

Method

Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water until soft. This takes around 5 minutes.

Pop the milk, cream, vanilla bean paste and sugar into a pan and bring to a boil, making sure all the sugar has dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat. Squeeze out the excess water from the gelatine leaves and add to the hot mix in the pan. Stir until the gelatine has completely dissolved.

Pour the mix into four glasses and pop them into the fridge to set.

Meanwhile, make the espresso martini syrup. Mix the Gin-Spresso Martini syrup, gin and coffee liqueur together.

When ready to serve, remove the panna cottas from the fridge and drizzle the surface with the espresso martini syrup. (If you would like to serve the panna cotta out of the glasses, simply dip the glasses in hot water for 30 seconds before tipping the panna cotta out onto a plate.)

If you love panna cotta then you will also want to give this spiced mascarpone panna cotta with poached figs recipe a go!