Pumpkin Panna Cotta and Nestle Florentine Cookies

This month Mallory of A Sofa In The Kitchen had challenged the Daring Bakers to prepare Panna Cotta and Nestle Florentine Cookies. Panna Cotta uses gelatin, which I never use because I am a vegetarian. But, no problem. We vegetarians have a great substitute for gelatin, which is agar-agar. In Madurai, I get sheets of agar-agar a.k.a. china grass. Usually the recipe suggests flakes or powder. I just weighed the equal amount of the sheet and it did set well. Using pumpkin puree was my idea. I had pumpkin puree in my fridge. So thought of incorporating it into this dish. The result was awesome.. Very creamy and delicious. We enjoyed it a lot. It will be a great dessert for your guests.

Pumpkin Panna Cotta
Ingredients:
For the plain Panna Cotta:
Milk-2/3cup
Low Fat Cream-2cups
Honey-1/4cup
Sugar-1tbs
Agar-Agar Sheet-5gm

For the Pumpkin Layer:
Milk-1/3cup
Low Fat Cream-1cup
Honey-3tbs
Sugar-2tbs
Pumpkin Puree-4tbs
Agar-Agar-Sheet-2gm
Pumpkin Seeds-3tbs

Procedure:
For the first layer:
1. Add the agar-agar sheet to milk and let it stand for 10minutes.
2. Heat the milk. Stir till the agar-agar dissolves in the milk. Let the milk boil for 3 minutes on low flame.
3. In a sauce pan, heat cream. Add honey and sugar and bring it to boil.
4. Add the agar-agar milk to the cream.
5. Let it boil for 1 minute. Adjust sugar according to your taste.
6. Switch off flame and allow it to cool.
7. When the temperature has come down, pour the mixture in the serving bowls.
8. It will take 5 minutes to set.

For the Pumpkin Layer:
1. Add agar-agar to milk and let it stand for 10 minutes.
2. Heat the milk and boil it until agar-agar dissolves. Let it boil for 3 minutes on low flame.
3. In a sauce pan, heat cream. Add honey, sugar and pumpkin puree. (adjust sugar according to your taste)
4. Add the milk and let it boil for 1 minute.
5. Switch off flame and allow it to cool.
6. Now pour this mixture carefully on top of the first layer.
7. If the mixture is hot then it will melt the first layer. So bring down the temperature before pouring.
8. Roast pumpkin seeds in a pan. When they start popping, transfer the seeds to a plate and let them cool.
9. Garnish the panna cotta with the seeds before the top layer sets.
10. Refrigerate and serve chilled.

Nestle Florentine Cookies

Ingredients:
Butter-2/3cup
Quick Cooking Oats-2cups
Sugar-1cup
Flour-2/3cup
Corn Syrup-1/4cup(I substituted it with liquid glucose)
Milk-1/4cup
Vanilla extract-1tsp
Salt-a pinch

Chocolate (Milk/Dark)-250gm

Procedure:
1. Melt butter.
2. Add all the other ingredients and prepare soft dough.
3. Divide the dough into small balls.
4. Grease a baking tray and line with butter paper.
5. Arrange the balls 2inches apart on the tray.
6. With the back of a spoon, press the balls to make small cookies.
7. Preheat oven to 190C.
8. Bake the cookies for 6-8minutes.
9. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.
10. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate.
11. Apply a spoon of chocolate on the flat side of the cookie and press another cookie on it, sandwiching the chocolate in between.
12. If you don’t want to do this, you can fill a plastic bag with the melted chocolate, make a small hole in the tip and pipe out lines on the cookie.
13. Serve along with Panna Cotta.