Panna cotta — literally "cooked cream" in Italian — is a silky, eggless custard thickened with a touch of gelatin.This easy panna cotta recipe is an especially rich version made with all cream instead of a mix of cream and milk.
The cream here is not exactly cooked, but rather heated twice. First, it's combined with sugar, the scraped vanilla pod, and the tiny vanilla seeds and brought just to a simmer. This allows the sugar to dissolve and the fragrant vanilla to steep into the cream. After the vanilla has infused off the heat, the cream is heated to a simmer once again, this time so that the bloomed gelatin can be added and dissolved. Only a small amount of gelatin is used, yielding a pudding that's tender, not rubbery.
Don't toss that vanilla bean after you've removed it from the pot, it still has more to give! Rinse it with hot water, using your fingers to squeeze off any remaining cream, then pat it dry. Place it on a clean paper towel to dry fully. You can use it for another infusion, bury it in a bit of sugar in a sealed container to make vanilla-scented sugar, or let it dry until it's brittle enough to grind into a vanilla powder.
