Key Lime Panna Cotta

This ultra-smooth and creamy Key Lime Panna Cotta is the perfect easy recipe for the summer months ahead. It’s light and melts in your mouth with a tangy key lime flavor that’s delicious and refreshing.

When I plan a dinner party during the summer, I try to use all that the season has to offer. I LOVE all the outdoor fruit and vegetable stands at the Jersey shore. We have our pick of the most beautiful corn, tomatoes, berries and so much more. New Jersey, the Garden State, lives up to its name.

And when it comes to desserts, fruit desserts are always at the top of my list. They’re lighter and I feel less guilty if I indulge.

I actually found the recipe for this delicious Key Lime Panna Cotta while I was down in Florida this winter in the local newspaper and knew I’d have to try it. I just made a few tweaks to boost the key lime flavor a smidge. Tom and I both LOVE key lime desserts. If you can’t get fresh key limes for this recipe, you can always grab some Nellie & Joe’s Famous Key West Lime Juice from your local market or order it online.

What is Panna Cotta?

Panna Cotta is a molded, chilled Italian dessert of sweetened cream that is thickened with gelatin. It means cooked cream in Italian.

This dessert is perfect for a crowd too. You can double the recipe and use mini mason jars for serving. You can also make them ahead of time and just chill them in the fridge until dessert time.

Hope you add these to your summer dessert line up. Enjoy!

Key Lime Panna Cotta

Author: MaryAnn Dwyer

Servings: 6 servings

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This ultra-smooth and creamy Key Lime Panna Cotta is the perfect easy recipe for the summer months ahead. It's light and melts in your mouth with a tangy key lime flavor that's delicious and refreshing.

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Chilling Time 4 hours hrs

Total Time 4 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Ingredients  

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 packet gelatin, I use Knox
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. key lime zest
• 3 teaspoons fresh key lime juice
• key lime slices and graham cracker crumbs, for serving, if desired

Instructions 

• In a small bowl, combine gelatin with 3 tablespoons cold water. Whisk and set aside,
• In a medium saucepan, stir together the heavy whipping cream, sugar and vanilla extract over medium-low heat until sugar is totally dissolved. Add the gelatin mixture. Whisk until the gelatin is dissolved. Stir in the key lime zest and juice.
• Pour evenly into six serving dishes or ramekins. Place in refrigerator for 3-4 hours until set. You can serve in the dish or place the ramekins in a pan of hot water, just slightly up the outsides of the ramekins. Let the ramekins sit for a few minutes and then run a knife around the edges and invert onto serving plates. Top each with a slice of lime and a sprinkle of graham cracker crumbs.

Notes

As mentioned above, if you can't find key limes, you can also use bottled key lime juice from your local market. See the link above. ↑

You can serve your panna cotta in glasses as pictured in this post, or you can pour into small ramekins and then after the panna cotta is fully chilled you can run a thin knife around the edges of the panna cotta to unmold and then invert onto a serving plate.

Keyword: gelatin, heavy whipping cream, key lime

Cuisine: Italian

Course: Dessert