Panna Cotta, or “cooked cream” in Italian, is one of the easiest and tastiest desserts you can make, as well as very versatile for flavor in terms of serving with different seasonal berries or sauces.

The dessert is an old traditional, Northern Italian dish typically made of cream, milk and sugar.  Unfortunately today, we find most of these ingredients as pasteurized cream, pasteurized milk and highly processed sugar – all dead foods.

I’ve been on a roll lately with strawberries – Healthy Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes & Fresh Homemade Strawberry Jam –  so keeping to the seasonal berry theme with the Summer garden strawberries flourishing, I whipped up a quick real food remix version of panna cotta that uses no cream or milk and is processed sugar-free.

This recipe is paleo-friendly, ReBoot-friendly (reward day only) dairy-free, gluten-free and 100% real food ingredient approved.  I also made notes for vegetarian & vegan options under the kitchen notes section.

Let’s take a look at the recipe!

Ingredients

3 cans full fat coconut milk (13.5 fl. ounce cans)

1 cup fresh strawberries, stemmed & pureed

1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced (for serving on top)

2 tablespoon raw, unpasteurized honey

1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoon grass-fed sourced gelatin*

*links above are brands I personally use and recommend nutrition you can trust

Kitchen Notes:

*Gelatin:  If you’re strict vegetarian or vegan, you can try an alternative to gelatin such as Vegan Jel.  I’ll note though, I have not made it with it so you may have to play around with the measurements.

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Directions

1.  Pour one can of coconut milk into a sauce pan and bring to a low-medium heat.

2.  Add the gelatin to the coconut milk and whisk constantly until dissolved.

3.  Once gelatin is dissolved, remove sauce pan from heat and whisk in remaining coconut milk, honey and vanilla extract.

4.  Add strawberries to a blender and puree.  Pour the strawberries into the sauce pan mixture and whisk until everything is incorporated.

5.  Divide the mixture evenly among 5-6 small bowls or glasses.

6.  Cover each with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4-5 hours before serving.

When the panna cotta is ready, serve with fresh strawberries on top.  You could even add homemade strawberry jam if you wanted.

What I love about this dessert is it can be made to the seasons.  Local, seasonal berries or other fruits can be used to create different versions and flavors (just don’t use pineapple! It has bromelain in it, an enzyme that breaks down protein, so it will breakdown the gelatin and the panna cotta won’t setup properly)… but you can try blueberries, peaches, nectarine and I know I’ll be trying a jammy fig version when they start flourishing later this Summer.

Buon Appetito!