This Vegan Cherry Panna Cotta is a delicious, lower in fat version of a traditional Italian dessert. Panna Cotta literally means cooked cream in Italian, cream, sugar and gelatin are the main ingredients in original recipes. I wanted to add less fat and to add fruit for sweetness, fiber and flavor to the actual panna cotta, not just on top.
I used frozen cherries, you can do fresh when in season, I like frozen ones too because they blend up nicely with the plant based cream. You can do a cream or a thicker, creamier version of a plant based milk, the ones you meant to be cooking with, to add it to sauces etc. Mine was rice cuisine milk and had 8% fat. You find the complete recipe below.
It gets this wonderful gorgeous color! You could eat it as is … but I didn’t …. I brought it to a boil than added in the dissolved agar-agar powder which I use as a thickener instead of gelatin and cooked it for about Agar-Agar is a gelatinous substance made from certain red seaweeds, it has more gelling power than gelatin.
When lukewarm-ish and still soft I added in a cherry yogurt but it can be any plant based yogurt you like to use, it doesn’t have to be flavored. I had this in my fridge so I choose this one. The flavor of the lukewarm panna cotta should be more pronounced because it will become lighter once it sets.
Divide over 4 molds or cups. Once set they can easily be removed from the molds. I made some in the prettiest glasses I could find and a few in molds and turned them upside down once set.
Loving the color …. you can use any fruit you like. Mango, peaches, all kinds of soft fruit is delicious in this recipe. I would press strawberries or raspberries through a sieve to get rid of the little seeds before adding it to the “cream”.
I dressed them up with more cherries, berries, grapes, also some yogurt and cherry jam to add some sauciness.
When the cherries thawed they release this lovely juice which I also scooped on top of the panna cotta.
For more sweet pudding like desserts check out my Chocolate Chia Pudding and Berry Chia Pudding
If you like this recipe you can print it or pin the picture below to your Pinterest board! I would love to see your version of it so tag me on FB or Instagram if you have made it.
Tina x
Vegan Cherry Panna Cotta
Ingredients
- 1 heaped cup cherries, frozen, pitted 250 grams / 8 ounces
- 200 ml plant based cream or cooking “milk” these come in smaller packages than the regular plant based milks
- 200 ml plant based yogurt
- 1 organic lemon only the yellow parts of the skin, grated
- 1/4 cup liquid sweetener to taste or stevia
- 1 tsp. agar-agar or 2 grams
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- Dissolve the agar-agar in the water.
- Blend the thawed cherries with the plant based cream or cooking milk. Pour it into a pan and bring it to a boil. Add in the agar-agar mixture, boil again and cook for about two minutes. Add in the lemon skin.
- Take off the heat, stir with a whisk and let it cool lukewarm but not set and stir in the yogurt and liquid sweetener if using. Taste it sweet and sour enough.
- Pour into 4 glasses or molds and let it set in the fridge for about 4 hours.
- When set you can serve it in the glass or turn it out of the mold.
