Yogurt Panna Cotta

A healthier version of a classic Italian dessert
Source: Adapted from An Italian Cooking in the Midwest

Taste: 3 (out of 5)
Difficulty: 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients:
- 1 cup non-fat yogurt
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tbsp gelatin
- 3 tbsp cold water
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp lingonberry syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Total: 4-6 servings (depending on serving size)

Directions:
1. Soak the gelatin in cold water for about 5-10 minutes until it blooms.
2. In the mean time warm the milk until it starts to boil. Add the sugar, the lingonberry extract and the vanilla and mix. Add the gelatin and mix until dissolved.
3. Remove the milk from the heat and add the yogurt. Mix well.
4. Using a strainer to leave out gelatin lumps, pour the mixture into serving bowls and refrigerate for several hours until set.
5. Decorate with your favorite fruit or sauce and serve cold.

Afterthoughts:
- I have to admit that I have deviated from the original recipe, it called for Greek yogurt, and I used a non-fat one, so my "panna cotta" lacked any creaminess and was more similar to yogurt jello. Another addition to the recipe that I made, using the lingonberry syrup, was probably another mistake, because as soon as I added it to the hot milk, it started separating. I love lingonberry syrup in milkshakes, it adds a really nice sweet and tangy flavor, but I did not account for the milk temperature in this case. So my panna cotta also did not look very pretty. Fortunately, the fruit topic hid the most of my wrong doings :-). And overall, after a heavy dinner, this panna cotta turned out to be a nice tangy dessert.
- This post was my SRC assignment. Just in case you don't know yet, SRC, or the Secret Recipe Club is a group of over a hundred food bloggers, who are assigned a "secret" blog each months. Then they choose a recipe from that blog, make it and post it on their own blog on a given reveal day. Then there is a big party, where you hop from one blog to another and check what everyone's been cooking. Lots of fun! And terrible for your diet ;-) I want to thank Amanda, Jane and April for making it all possible!
- Pola, the author of Italian in the Midwest, as the name of her blog suggests, has a lot of yummy Italian recipes on her blog, some classic and some with very original twists, for example her eggplant pesto. I will be back for that recipe.