Orange Pannacotta Crumble Pots with Candied Kumquat

Orange Pannacotta Crumble Pots with Candied Kumquats were made for a Daring Bakers challenge.

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

I had a couple of problems with this challenge. I made the biscuit batter nice and early but it was far too runny and even when I added more oats, the blobs of batter spread much too far in the oven. The cooked mixture tasted fine but it was more like a wafer thin flapjack than a florentine. So instead I used a crumbled up flapjack.

Candying kumquats was a first for me, doing anything with kumquats was a first for me. I didn’t like them raw but candied they’re intensely citrusy and I’ll definitely be using them like this again.

Finally, I used crumbled flapjack instead of florentines for the topping – see my raisin flapjacks recipe or just use a ready-made one.

So it’s not the result I expected but nevertheless one I was pleased with. There’s something very satisfying about sitting on the sofa with a dessert in a glass.

Print Recipe

Orange Pannacotta Crumble Pots with Candied Kumquat

Based on Giada's Vanilla Panna Cotta as set for the Daring Bakers' Challenge.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: italian inspired

Keyword: cream dessert, orange dessert, orange pannacotta

Servings: 6

Ingredients

For The Pannacotta

• 240 ml milk
• 1 tbsp gelatine powder or 1 x 7g sachet, unflavoured
• 720 ml whipping cream
• 3 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp caster sugar (superfine baking sugar)
• pinch salt
• 1/2 tsp orange extract
• touch orange food colouring optional - or yellow/red mixed

For The Candied Kumquats

• 12 kumquats finely sliced and seeds picked out
• 2 tbsp water
• 3 tbsp caster sugar

For The Oat Crumble

• 1 flapjack crumbled

Instructions

For The Orange Pannacotta

• Pour the milk into a small saucepan and sprinkle gelatine powder evenly and thinly over the milk. Let stand for 5 minutes to soften the gelatine.
• Place over medium heat on the hob. Heat this mixture until it is hot, but not boiling. (I whisk it a few times at this stage).
• Add the cream, orange extract, honey, sugar, and pinch of salt. Making sure the mixture doesn't boil, continue to heat and stir occasionally until the sugar and honey have dissolved 5-7 minutes.
• Optional: Add a touch of red and yellow food colourings with a cocktail stick if you want to give it an orange tint.
• Remove from heat, allow it to sit for a few minutes to cool slightly. Then pour into glasses or ramekins. Allow to cool completely.

For The Candied Kumquats

• To make the candied kumquats, pour the water, sugar and kumquat slices into a small saucepan and heat gently until the sugar melts. Raise the temperature a little so it starts to bubble.
• Cook on a low heat for 5-8 minutes just until the sugar starts to go brown. Allow to cool although beware that the kumquat pieces will solidify and be harder to remove from the pan if the caramel hardens.

To Assemble

• When the pannacotta has cooled, sprinkle over with flapjack crumbs and some candied kumquat. Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight.