Last week while I was on my baking spree, I made cream puffs. But nope, that’s not all I made. When I was watching MasterChef and they made panna cotta, I couldn’t help thinking about how this dish tasted. They made it seem like it was such a classic, beautiful dish. And of course, it being MasterChef, they also made it seem insanely difficult to make and that if we lowly inexperienced chefs tried making it, the results would be terrible. I wanted to give it a go anyways. Even if I messed up, it can’t be that bad right? Instead of just trying panna cotta alone, I wanted to do a cookies & milk sort of thing.
The recipe and procedure itself is insanely easy. The only thing that was a problem was shaping the cookie cups. I used a muffin tin so they would all be consistent. The whole experience of it was a gigantic pain in my side. Literally. I got side pains (maybe I was standing funny)! It was my first time shaping cookie cups, however, so I’m hoping it will get easier the more I make them. They were yummy after all, so of course I want more!
I used this recipe from Spache the Spatula. You can pretty much use any chocolate chip cookie (or just any cookie recipe) for the cup, but I would go for a recipe that makes firmer cookies. Soft cookies most likely won’t hold well with something in it and I feel the soft, mushy texture of it would take away from the creaminess of the panna cotta.
Tips:
- Don’t worry about it being too thin. I mean, of course worry about it. Except I worried so much about the cups being too thin and then cracking that I made them too thick (as you can see from the picture above). If you look at the pictures of the cookie cups on recipe site, you’ll see that they’re perfect! The ratio was what I was aiming for but I was seriously sitting there the whole time thinking about how they were too thin.
- Be prepared for the pain that the chocolate chips will cause. They will make it difficult to form a nice smooth cup on the inside since the height of the chip will be taller than the cup’s thickness.
- Use a short shot glass to create the impression of the bottom of the cups first before you start shaping the sides. I only started doing this on the last 3 cups and it made life so much easier. You’re going to need the shot glass later anyways to press in the cup shape again while they’re baking.
- When making the panna cotta, make absolutely sure that all the gelatin dissolves before you continue pouring it in, etc. If it doesn’t, when it sets, it will form a thin layer of clear gelatin at the bottom of your cups. I guarantee you will taste/notice it. I did this by accident and I couldn’t help being bothered by it when I had some. :'(
Overall, guaranteed easy recipe. I was actually pretty excited about the cookie cups, heh. First time baking something is always exciting! I most likely won’t be making this much since I fear the wrath of the cookie cups. Now, if it were easier to make cookie cups I would just make these in place of regular cookies forever! I love, love, love the creaminess of the panna cotta along with the cookie. It’s such a convenient snack too, y’know, with the “milk” being inside the cookie already.
11 comments
Rats! I was hoping to see an image of your Panna Cotta! How did it turn out?
Those cookies are adorable! What kind of cream did you use in the middle? It looks like milk, I bet it is a milk like substance? I wouldn’t mind trying these out. However, I’m having to watch what I eat (dieting again).
RE: Winter is a fantastic month! Everyone seems to wear the newest coats or sweatshirt. I’ve also been noticing that at school, people dress down rather than up for a more fashion sense instead of keeping cool. Most people will dress in long sleeve t-shirts instead of a regular shirt and shorts for the heat. How do they stand it? I can barely stand it. I’m over this heat wave! Bring on winter! I agree with you, that anything more than a weeks worth of heat is awful. Although, I do love swimming (or did) I wouldn’t mind a pool in doors. But still! Enough of this heat! I want cold air!
The panna cotta is inside the cookie cups! 🙂
& Also, yes! Aside from pools and beaches, summer has nothing over winter or any other season. You can’t even dress fancy during the summer 🙁 I’ve tried and oh my goodness is it a gigantic pain to just even exist outside in nice clothing!
Interesting! I feel like challenging myself and making an allergy-free version of this. 😡 I could put it in the list of recipes needing half-and-half and whipping cream, which will be made when I make sunflower seed milk and have the seed ‘pulp’ left over to mess with. Because cookies and milk are really great, but blah. 😡 This recipe has milk written all over it.
I’m so glad you liked my recipe! Yours look great and so cute!
One tip about making your cookie cups an even thickness super easily is to just press them to the thickness of your chocolate chips 🙂 It’s really easy to feel the hard chips, so you can basically form them without even looking!
Wow they turned out so nicely! I think I’ll have to try the recipe myself and see how that goes. From what it looks like, doesn’t seem to be too hard!
The chocolate chip cup looks so creative and tasty! Especially with the panna cotta with it! For some reason, I kept on reading that as pina colatta ;~;. I can imagine the excitement of eating these cookies. You don’t need to worry about breaking the cookie while it’s being dipped in the milk. And even better, it’s all handheld :D.
Good luck with your future baking adventures~
Before reading the rest, I had anticipated that shaping the cups would be difficult. Guess I was on the mark with this one. xD With all the great recipes like this, I should have no reason not to give it a try. Looks good to me! Thanks for the kind warning about the obstacles, but the taste is certainly worth all the pain. 🙂
Aaand now I’m craving some chocolate chip cookies! xD
I love the idea of cookie cups! I make cookies so often but have never shaped them like this. Sometimes I use Andes chocolate baking bits, which are crushed pieces and are smaller than chocolate chips. I wonder if those would be easier to use for these.
I like that the panna cotta part doesn’t take that many ingredients. I thought that part would be hard to do. I’ll have to give this recipe a try some time!
This sounds delicious! I’ve never had panna cotta before but this recipe makes me want to try it! I couldn’t get the pictures to load (but I think it was probably just the bad campus internet :P). I’ve made cookie cups once more to make little mini fruit pizza cups and it was a pain. They turned out super cute but next time I didn’t even bother with them. I think I will bookmark this so when I feel fancy I can try and make these 🙂
I watch MasterChef too! I’ve been craving sweets >.< I can already tell that this is too difficult for me to replicate lol I never had cooking class when I was in high school, so I feel like I've missed out so much. I wanna try a baking class and learn though :3 I'm super impressed with your baking skills though and it's your first time! You definitely have potential ^^
Thanks! I have absolutely no formal baking training so if I can do this, I bet you can as well! 🙂 It doesn’t hurt to try. Usually mistakes for me end up just not looking nice, but they generally taste delicious still!