Blackberry Panna Cotta Recipe | Hank Shaw (2024)

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Blackberry panna cotta is a joy of summer, and can be made in several different ways that I’ll go through here.

A traditional blackberry panna cotta would actually be a vanilla panna cotta with blackberry syrup and fresh or macerated blackberries on top, as in the picture.

I prefer to infuse the blackberries in the cream to make a pretty pink panna cotta, and then add the extra hits of syrup and fresh berries — or go with a complimentary berry.

If you’re not familiar with a panna cotta, it’s an Italian dessert where you use gelatin to set cream into a mold. It is not the same thing as a crème brulee or custard, which is set with eggs.

The goal of a panna cotta is to use as little gelatin as you can and still have it set up fully. I have tinkered with Knox gelatin to the point where I like this recipe, but I notice different brands of gelatin act differently, so you might need to experiment.

Obviously this is a model for other fruits. Anything that looks like a blackberry will work exactly the same way: dewberries, raspberries, salmonberries, boysenberries, marionberries, and, if you are ever so lucky, nagoon berries and cloudberries make ethereal panna cotta.

You can make blackberry panna cotta up to two days ahead, making it one of the less stressful “fancy” desserts. You can also choose not to pop it out of the ramekins, which makes it even easier — then it’s like a cream-based jello, only less firm.

A tip on getting panna cotta out of molds: If they are sticky, dip the ramekin into a bowl of hot water — obviously don’t get the actual dessert wet. This can slightly melt the outermost layer, allowing you to carefully invert the mold over the dessert plate.