Pumpkin Panna Cotta

The hunt for Thanksgiving recipes has officially begun.

I have sorted through the many, many pumpkin desserts on Epicurious, other online sources, and various cookbooks and looked at pumpkin pie, pumpkin flan, pumpkin creme brulee, pumpkin meringue pie, pumpkin pie brulee, pumpkin flan brulee, and pumpkin flan meringue, among others.  There seems to be a high level of inbreeding and mutating among the pumpkin desserts.

First up: pumpkin "panna cotta" from The Minimalist Entertains by Mark Bittman (The quotation marks are Mark Bittman's, not mine.) I bought this book a couple of years ago and have never made a single thing from it. This recipe caught my eye at the time though and this seemed like a good occasion to check it out. The caramelized sugar topping is my addition because last time I made panna cotta using a recipe from Lidia Bastianich it included this and I thought it would work well with a pumpkin panna cotta. Or maybe I was just looking for any excuse to taste this stuff again.

Pumpkin "Panna Cotta"

1 1/2 cups milk

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 cups pureed pumpkin, squash, or sweet potato (I used canned pumpkin puree)

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Caramel

2/3 cup sugar

6 tablespoons water

1. Make the caramel: Put sugar and water in a saucepan over low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. When the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring, turn up the heat slightly, and watch it. When the color of the sugar syrup is a medium amber, or just a touch beyond, remove from the heat and pour a little bit in the bottom of each of eight ramekins, swirling the ramekin to coat the bottom with the sugar. Set them aside.

2. Put 1/2 cup of the milk, in a 6 to 8 cup saucepan and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let it sit for five minutes. In the meantime, blend the remaining milk, cream, pumpkin, sugar, and cinnamon in a blender until smooth.

3. Begin cooking the milk and gelatin over low heat, stirring until the gelatin dissolves. Pour in the cream mixture and turn the heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally until steam rises (do not let it come to a boil).  Pour into the caramel-lined ramekins and refrigerate until firm. I'd allow at least two to three hours for this.

4. To serve, run a thin knife blade around inside of ramekin. Place small dessert plate on top of ramekin, invert, wait until the caramel starts seeping out and then pick up the ramekin.

Note: You need to be careful when working with caramel because if you spill it on you it will result in a serious burn. It's super hot and all that sugar will make it stick to you like glue.

When I first tasted this I was disappointed at how completely forgettable it was. Sort of bland, sort of rubbery. But when I tasted it again the next day, while all the rubbery issues were still present, the flavor had become richer and fuller. Still not deeply flavored but it made me think this dessert actually has possibilities. The caramelized sugar is a good touch, and it would probably help to add some more of the spices pumpkin desserts are normally cooked with such as ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.

The issue with the rubberiness must be a function of the amount of gelatin. My only other experience with panna cotta was when I made it this past summer and that wasn't rubbery in the least. In fact, it was light and cloud-like. I will probably revisit this sometime in the near future and when I do I'll try dialing back the amount of gelatin. I'll also add more spices. So this one is a keeper but only because I think a better dessert can be coaxed out of this concept.

In the meantime I'm on to more Thanksgiving possible desserts.

(When I sat down to write this post I wondered if anyone else out there in food-blog land had ever made this so I googled it and found that The Wednesday Chef had already made this and written about it. You can read about it here.)

Comments

[Vanessa]

Thanksgiving is the best time of year for recipes. So glad you're posting something different for pumkin flavor. I recently had some pumpkin fudge and it was so good. I found a recipe for it online and will make it for the holiday some up soon.

[Sarah]

Sorry this one didn't work out for you...but since you're so on the ball with your pre-Thanksgiving experimentation schedule, you're sure to hit on some pumpkin gold. I just wanted to say that, although it's hard to judge the taste from my computer screen, the picture looks really yummy.

[cookiecrumb]

Two things: I love how recipe-smart you are. I love that your recipe could have almost worked, and you're telling us how to tweak it.
And: I love that you're "leaking" Thanksgiving recipes I might want to try.
God, I love this "job."
Heh.

[blue plate]

Too bad the panna cotta didn't live up to your taste expectation, but it takes a great picture.

[sher]

It looks fabulous! Too bad it didn't measure up to its looks, But, as you said, it has real possibilities. And the fact that it got better after a day is kind of nice.

[lobstersquad]

To tell you the truth, I´ve never really got the point of pumpkin in desserts. Here we use yams, sometimes, and I´m not crazy about that either. Curious to see if your seach brings up something great.

[Luisa]

Ugh, how I hated this. And it also made me wonder about pumpkin custards. But I haven't given up yet. Did you see the one that Jennifer Steinhauer published in the NY Times a few weeks ago? Click on my url above and it'll take you to the recipe.

[Luisa]

Er, I meant below.

[ann]

i'm with lobstersquad, i abhore pumpkin desserts.... so this would never pass my lips, but boy is it beeee-yoot-eful!
what a picture! pure food porn!

[aria]

mmmm! oh that looks so good!

[Michelle]

I LOVE pumpkin anything, and this sounds delicious, even if you didn't get all the desired results! I'm struggling with how to turn a gingerbread recipe into a pumpkin gingerbread recipe at the moment... why is Fall food so delectable?

[tea]

You have some delicious recipes here! Glad I found your blog :)

tea
xo

[Anita]

Beautiful looking "flan" - I don't know why there are quotes, it looks perfectly flan-like and delicious!

[Nicola]

wow...who knew pumpkin could draw so many opinions...so what's next m'dear, sticking to pumpkin or trying other holiday worthy tricks? how about moving on to cranberry and walnut/maple syrup pie?

[angela]

SWEET! I love pumpkin flavored stuff, but have a hard time finding decent recipes. Thanks for this one.

[the bee]

I am going to make pumpkin flan and it is because I was inspired by this recipe.
I saw Sandra Lee of semi crappy homemade making stuffing from hot dog buns. Yes, hot dog buns.
Help me Rhonda.

[Julie]

Vanessa, I've never even heard of pumpkin fudge! Let me know how it works out.

Sarah, it's kind of a disappointment that this didn't work out better because I like the way it looks but I plan to try the recipe the NY Times posted and I have high hopes for it.

cookiecrumb, I'm not always recipe smart -- sometimes I know some element isn't working and I can't put my finger on it. But in this case, I'm darned sure that too much gelatin is the culprit and is resulting in that rubbery hockey-puck aspect of the panna cotta.

blue plate, all those golden tones look like the very essence of fall to me. It IS too bad that it looked better than it tasted.

sher, that thing about flavors developing as they sit is always a cool thing. And I still believe this does have possibilities.

lobstersquad, at this time of year pumpkin everything seems to abound here. See the mention of pumpkin fudge above. Americans seem to have a national compulsion about finding ways to use pumpkin in desserts at this time of year.

Luisa, thanks for the reminder. I did notice that recipe but had forgotten about it. That recipe uses less gelatin and more liquid, plus more spices, so it looks much more promising to me.

ann, you crack me up. I actually think pumpkin lends itself more to desserts than savory foods because pumpkin can be so sweet that I find it off-putting in a savory dish.

aria, thanks!

Michelle, I've never heard of pumpkin gingerbread before but it sounds like a natural pairing. I hope you're successful. I want to hear about the results!

tea, thank you and thanks for stopping by.

Anita, I'm not sure why the quotes on the original recipe either.

Nicola, cranberry walnut maple pie sounds very seasonal. Not sure what my next direction is though.

angela and bee, I would try the New York Times one ( http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/17/magazine/17food.html?ex=1316145600&en=d300b43f33b73a1c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss )instead of this one. I think you'll be happier with it.