Looking for an extra protein boost in your meal plan or want to indulge on a super tasty but nutritious and macro-friendly dessert? This is for you!  Perfect for dinner parties and very easy to make. Plus, dairy-free option!

Liking food and cooking as much as I do, I often find myself buying every new product that hits the shelves and sounds exotic and healthy (basically, it’s not full of crappy ingredients). From coconut jerky to spirulina, fori bars to cashew ice cream, seaweed pasta to kombucha, … My latest find is coconut condensed milk and coconut evaporated milk by Nature’s charm.

I had the last two around for a few months so last weekend I decided that it was about time to make something with them. And just because I never actually used evaporated milk in my life, I decided to start with condensed milk, which I had seen my family cooking with when I was a kid. (Note: If you have any ideas of what to make with evaporated coconut milk comment below!)

The coconut condensed milk has quite a bit more sugar than I’d like it to (just like regular sweetened condensed milk), so although the ingredients are relatively “clean” it’s better to divide it over several servings like I did to not overdo it with the sugar! It’s funny because as a child I never actually liked condensed milk because it was too sweet for me. Well, it’s the same or even worst nowadays, hence I made 8 portions of panna cotta out of just one tin!.

It only took me 20 minutes from start to finish and we enjoyed it as a dessert for a few days. It’s a great dessert to make ahead if you have people over and want to impress them with a super easy and quick homemade pudding, but it also keeps in the fridge for 3 or 4 days, which is great for smaller families or people living on their own.

With the amount of exercise I do and my conscious effort to eat enough protein to support my workouts and feel satisfied and not hungry between meals, I wanted to make a dessert that would provide a good serve of protein but that still feels indulgent and anyone would enjoy. It also has grass-fed gelatine which has gut-healing properties and it’s great for your skin, hair and general wellbeing, so this pudding really is a win-win!

As this contains greek yoghurt to increase the protein content, it’s not dairy free. I personally do well with fermented milk products like yoghurt even if I cannot have regular milk. If you don’t, you can make this recipe fully dairy free by swapping regular yoghurt with coconut or almond milk yoghurt, but beware that those tend to be higher in fat content and lower in protein. It will still be delicious though!

protein_pannacotta

Protein berry panna cotta recipe:

Servings: 8   |   Preparation time: 10 min  |   Cooking time: 10 min

Ingredients:

  • 1 can – coconut condensed milk
  • 30 grams – gelatine
  • 250 ml – water
  • 350 grams – strained greek yoghurt (I used 2 pots of 0% fat total greek yoghurt)
  • 200 grams – berries (I mixed blueberries and strawberries, but pick your favourite ones)

Instructions:

  1. Blitz the berries with a hand mixer or blending machine until you get a sauce-like texture (coulis). You may need to add 1 tablespoon of water depending on what berries you are using. Leave aside.
  2. Pour the yoghurt and coconut condensed milk in a bowl and mix well.
  3. Place a saucepan with the water over medium fire until it’s warm but far from boiling. Switch off the fire. Then add the gelatine tablespoon by tablespoon and mix well until fully dissolved.
  4. Pour the water and gelatine mixture over the yoghurt and condensed milk and mix well. You’ll get a thick cream. At this point you’ll have to work quickly otherwise the gelatine will start working and your coconut panna cotta will solidify.
  5. With the help of a spoon, pour half of the coconut panna cotta on your individual serving pots (I used ramekins). Then lay half of the berry blend over each. Repeat with the other half, spreading first the coconut panna cotta and finally topping with the rest of the berry blend.
  6. Place in the fridge and wait for 1 hour before eating, if you are able to restrain yourself!