Let the Holidays begin! Holy cow, I can’t even imagine how this year has flown by! So tomorrow is my first of two Thanksgiving dinners and since I didn’t feel like making my fourth Guinness Pecan Pie, I decided to mix it up and make a dessert that didn’t have the word “pie” in it. We all can get “pied” out so this is a little something different for us folks that really don’t eat dessert but feel obligated because it’s a holiday and well, you should eat dessert! Pumpkin Panna Cotta, fits the bill for this excuse to eat dessert. It’s so easy to make and a pretty variation for the dessert table! Give it a try, it’s so good… Happy Thanksgiving everyone and enjoy your time with friends and family!
- 8 oz heavy whipping cream
- 8 oz buttermilk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 6 tbs superfine sugar
- 10 tbs pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 package unflavored gelatin
- 1/4 cup cold water
- In a large saucepan, add whipping cream, buttermilk, vanilla, salt, sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil. Make sure you stir well to avoid boiling over. Remove from heat.
- In a glass mixing bowl add gelatin and cold water. Stir well trying to make sure you don’t get excess gelatin on the side of the bowl. Stir for about a minute to make sure it’s all combined.
- Whisk in the hot milk mixture into the gelatin well for 2 minutes to make sure all the gelatin is dissolved.
- Pour the pannacotta into glasses or other serving vessel and refrigerate until it sets up. (3 hours for me)
Last weekend I had an opportunity to go visit my friends in McCook, Nebraska. No real reason but to make tamales, drink wine and visit a town that I have heard so much about for the past fourteen years! The crazy thing, I have lived in Colorado for almost twenty five years and I have NEVER been East of the airport! That’s nuts. I was so exited to see and experience something new that I was giddy on my five hour drive! Northeastern Colorado is quite impressive with the wide open plains and cities of silo’s from the massive industrialized farms and huge ranches. I had no idea that this even existed. So naive am I! LOL!. Southwestern Nebraska is totally different. Huge farms and ranches but the rolling hills and huge views make it such a different experience. Both states offer a lot of “awe”. Anyway, my friends always talk about these two places that we ate at! Serious small town hole in the wall restaurants with flat out amazing food! If I lived in McCook, I’d probably be five hundred pounds! LOL! I’m so going back to McCook. We had a ton of laughs and all the dogs got a long great!