Coconut Panna Cotta & Berry Sauce (dairy-free)

This is one of my favorite desserts. It is light. It is simple to make. It can be dressed up to present so beautifully. You can take the extra step of hiding fresh berries in the dessert or make the optional berry sauce to top each dessert.

Coconut Panna Cotta

Optional Berry Sauce

Directions:

1. Empty coconut milk into a small saucepan and whisk gelatin into coconut milk*. Let sit for 10 minutes.
2. Heat coconut milk on medium/low heat. Do not boil – you just want to dissolve the gelatin.
3. Fill 2 ramekins halfway with the coconut milk mixture. Then add in some of the fresh berries while reserving a few berries for garnish. (Note: if you are not adding berries to the center, go ahead and fill up the ramekins with all of the coconut milk/gelatin mixture.)
4. Put ramekins in the refrigerator for approximately 1 hour or until the panna cotta is partially set up. Stir the remaining coconut milk mixture (a film will have formed on top).
5. Pour the remaining coconut milk into ramekins and refrigerate for at least 6 hours. Top with remaining berries (or optional berry sauce), garnish with mint leaves, and serve chilled.

Optional Berry Sauce:

1. To thicken the sauce with chia seeds: mash the berries and remaining ingredients together in a bowl. Let sit for 15 minutes until the sauce has thickened (as a result of the chia seeds absorbing the raspberry juice).
2. To thicken the sauce with gelatin: heat berries, lemon juice, and honey over medium heat, mash it all together, and when hot (but not boiling), turn off heat and stir in ½ teaspoon of gelatin. Let chill.
3. Pour berry sauce over firm panna cotta desserts before serving (if using the gelatin berry sauce you will want to fully chill desserts again before serving).

Recipe Notes:

• I would highly suggest using store-bought coconut milk like Aroy-D or Natural Value for this recipe, as homemade coconut milk might not work as well.