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.

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Indulge in the Ultimate Summer Treat: Key Lime Panna Cotta

As the days grow longer and the sun shines brighter, there’s an undeniable buzz in the air. Summer is almost here, bringing with it the promise of warm evenings, outdoor gatherings, and delightful culinary adventures. For many, this season signifies a shift in appetite towards lighter, more refreshing flavors, and what could be more fitting than a dessert that captures the essence of summer in every spoonful?

Here at the blog, we cherish the summer months, often filled with dinner guests and joyous entertaining, especially by the beach. Throughout the colder seasons, we dream up and refine recipes that embody the spirit of summer – easy to prepare, bursting with seasonal freshness, and utterly delicious. This year, our spotlight shines on a true gem: an incredibly smooth and creamy Key Lime Panna Cotta that promises to be a staple in your summer dessert repertoire.

Why Key Lime Panna Cotta is Your Summer Essential

Summer entertaining is all about embracing the season’s bounty. From vibrant corn and juicy tomatoes to an abundance of berries, the Garden State of New Jersey truly lives up to its name, offering an array of fresh produce. When it comes to concluding a perfect summer meal, fruit-based desserts always top the list. They offer a refreshing counterpoint to richer savory dishes, providing a lighter finish that leaves you feeling satisfied without the heavy indulgence.

The Key Lime Panna Cotta perfectly encapsulates this philosophy. Its bright, zesty flavor is a welcome departure from heavier chocolate or baked goods, making it an ideal choice for a warm evening. This recipe, inspired by a delightful find in a Florida newspaper and tweaked to enhance that signature key lime tang, is a testament to how simple ingredients can create extraordinary flavors. My husband, Tom, and I share a deep love for all things key lime, and this panna cotta quickly became a household favorite.

Key limes are smaller, more aromatic, and boast a distinct tartness compared to their Persian lime counterparts. While fresh key limes offer an unparalleled depth of flavor, they can sometimes be hard to find depending on your location. Fear not! For convenience without compromise, Nellie & Joe’s Famous Key West Lime Juice is an excellent substitute, widely available in most markets or online. This allows you to achieve that authentic key lime taste, no matter where you are.

Understanding Panna Cotta: The “Cooked Cream” Delight

What is Panna Cotta?

At its heart, Panna Cotta is an elegant Italian dessert that translates literally to “cooked cream.” It’s a testament to the beauty of simplicity: sweetened cream, gently heated and then set with gelatin to create a silky, smooth, and slightly jiggly texture. Unlike custards that rely on eggs for thickening, panna cotta achieves its characteristic melt-in-your-mouth consistency through gelatin, making it a lighter and often quicker alternative to other classic creamy desserts.

The magic of panna cotta lies in its versatility. While traditional versions might feature vanilla or coffee, it readily accepts a myriad of flavor infusions. Our Key Lime Panna Cotta embraces this adaptability, blending the rich creaminess with the vibrant, zesty punch of key limes. The result is a dessert that feels both indulgent and surprisingly light, a perfect harmony of sweet and tart that awakens the palate.

Key Ingredients: Crafting the Perfect Panna Cotta

Creating this irresistible Key Lime Panna Cotta requires a few essential ingredients, each playing a crucial role in achieving its signature texture and flavor profile:

Heavy Whipping Cream: The foundation of any panna cotta. Its high-fat content is what gives the dessert its luxurious, rich, and ultra-creamy mouthfeel. Don’t substitute with lighter creams, as they won’t yield the same luscious result.
Granulated Sugar: Provides the perfect level of sweetness, balancing the tartness of the key limes and enhancing the overall flavor. Adjust to your preference, but remember a little sweetness is needed to make the lime truly shine.
Gelatin: The star ingredient responsible for setting the cream. We recommend a reliable brand like Knox gelatin to ensure a consistent and smooth set. Proper blooming and dissolving are key to avoiding a grainy texture.
Vanilla Extract: A touch of vanilla adds warmth and depth, complementing the citrus and cream without overpowering it. It’s a subtle background note that elevates the overall flavor.
Key Lime Zest: This is where a significant part of the key lime flavor and aromatic punch comes from. The oils in the zest are packed with intense lime essence, providing a beautiful fragrance and a vibrant citrus note that the juice alone cannot achieve.
Key Lime Juice: Provides the characteristic tartness and bright flavor of key limes. Using freshly squeezed juice is always preferred for the freshest taste, but as mentioned, quality bottled juice is an excellent alternative.

Mastering Your Key Lime Panna Cotta: Tips & Tricks

One of the many charms of this Key Lime Panna Cotta is its adaptability for entertaining. It’s a fantastic make-ahead dessert, meaning you can prepare it hours, or even a day, in advance. This frees you up to enjoy your guests without the last-minute stress of dessert preparation. Simply chill them in the refrigerator until it’s time to serve. Planning a larger gathering? No problem! The recipe doubles or triples beautifully, and individual servings in mini mason jars or elegant glasses make for effortless presentation and portion control.

Cook’s Notes for a Flawless Dessert

Sourcing Key Limes: As highlighted earlier, fresh key limes impart the most authentic and vibrant flavor. Look for them in specialty grocery stores or during their peak season. If fresh are unavailable, a high-quality bottled key lime juice, such as Nellie & Joe’s, is a perfectly acceptable and delicious alternative. The link provided above can guide you to a good option.
Blooming Gelatin: This crucial step ensures a smooth panna cotta. Always sprinkle the gelatin over cold water and let it sit for 5-10 minutes. This allows the granules to absorb the water and soften, preventing lumps when it’s added to the warm cream.
Gentle Heating: When heating the cream and sugar, keep the heat medium-low. You want the sugar to dissolve completely and the cream to warm through, but avoid boiling it. Excessive heat can affect the gelatin’s setting power and potentially alter the delicate flavor of the cream.
Thorough Whisking: After adding the bloomed gelatin to the warm cream mixture, whisk continuously until it’s fully dissolved. You shouldn’t see any gelatin particles. This ensures an even set throughout your panna cotta.
Chilling is Key: Patience is a virtue when it comes to panna cotta. A minimum of 3-4 hours of chilling is essential for the dessert to set properly. For best results and the firmest set, consider chilling overnight.
Serving Suggestions: You have a couple of elegant options for serving.
- In Glasses: As pictured, serving the panna cotta directly in small glasses, ramekins, or mini mason jars is convenient and visually appealing.
- Unmolding: For a more dramatic presentation, you can unmold the panna cotta onto serving plates. To do this, after the panna cotta is fully chilled and set, briefly dip the bottom of the ramekin in a shallow pan of hot water for 15-30 seconds. This helps loosen the edges. Then, run a thin, sharp knife around the rim of the panna cotta, gently pull the edges away from the ramekin, and invert it onto your desired serving plate. The panna cotta should slide out cleanly.
Garnishes: Elevate your panna cotta with simple garnishes. A thin slice of fresh key lime adds a pop of color and reinforces the flavor profile. For a textural contrast reminiscent of key lime pie, a sprinkle of graham cracker crumbs is simply divine. Fresh berries or a dollop of whipped cream are also excellent choices.

This Key Lime Panna Cotta is more than just a dessert; it’s an experience. It’s the taste of a carefree summer day, captured in a delightful, melt-in-your-mouth treat. Whether you’re hosting a grand barbecue or simply enjoying a quiet evening at home, this recipe is guaranteed to bring a smile. We genuinely hope you’ll add this incredible dessert to your summer lineup. Enjoy every luscious bite!

More Summer Fruit Desserts to Enjoy

If you’re looking for other light and fruity options to sweeten your summer, explore these delightful recipes:

Mango Sorbet
Chocolate Dipped Pineapple Slices with Toasted Coconut
Berry Crumb Bars
White Chocolate Raspberry Bars

Overhead photo of a glass filled with panna cotta and a lime slice

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 mins

Chilling Time: 4 hrs

Total Time: 4 hrs 10 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.

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.

Nutrition

Keyword: gelatin, heavy whipping cream, key lime

Cuisine: Italian

Course: Dessert

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