Cranberry Panna Cotta

Hello, hello! How was your weekend?

We had a good one. The advent calendar has been a huge success, and there have been crazy amounts of excitement every morning. It’s so much fun to have a six-year-old. Amid the flurry of getting a tree and holiday decorating, I made some cranberry panna cotta – a very seasonal dessert! It requires only six ingredients and takes about 15 minutes to prepare. Stick it in the fridge overnight, and you’ve got loveliness that’s a consistency somewhere between mousse and flan. Love it.

I did, however, make the cranberry sauce from scratch. That took a little longer, though mostly hands-off, and I included the recipe below. I love a good homemade cranberry sauce. On Thanksgiving, I made it for the first time and couldn’t believe how much better it was than the store-bought kind. We finished it in 48 hours and I immediately went to the store to get more cranberries. I saw this post on Laura’s site and will have to try the rosemary-infused version soon! I also made pumpkin panna cotta on Thanksgiving, using this recipe, which I adapted for the cranberry version.

This pretty, blush-colored creamy concoction is silky and sweet, with just a hint of tartness. I added a little cranberry sauce glaze on top and with a dollop of whipped cream, this is my kind of dessert.

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

2 cups fresh cranberries
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup orange juice

Place all ingredients in a small pan, bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer for approximately 45 minutes. You may need to smoosh the cranberries with a wooden spoon so they don’t explode. Mine started popping about twenty minutes into simmering. Easy! And delicious….