Strawberry Panna Cotta & Passion Fruit Jelly Cups

Valentine's Day is almost here and if you prefer having a nice romantic dinner at home, I suggest you to try this easy, light and delectable dessert: Strawberry panna cotta and passion fruit jelly cups. You can make this dessert ahead, it's quick, you can adapt it to your favorite flavors, although I think strawberry and passion fruit is a great combination and they just match so perfectly with the theme of Valentine's day!

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The strawberry panna cotta is creamy, rich and fruity (think of a strawberry creamsicle!); while the passion fruit jelly adds a bit of fresh tanginess, just perfect to end a lovely evening with your significant other. Also, if your other half isn't fond of chocolate (I know mine isn't!), this type of dessert is a good alternative to keep things valentine's-y and sweet without the chocolate overdose.

This recipe yields about 500 ml, so it's perfect for two servings in 250 ml cups, although the one's I used were quite small yogurt cups of 100 ml each, so I got five small servings.

Ingredients:

- 6 gelatine sheets (or 10 g. gelatine powder)
- 200 ml heavy cream
- 170 g. chopped strawberries (plus a few more for garnishing)
- 50 g. passion fruit pulp (about 3 passion fruits for me)
- 8 tbsp sugar
- Water



Procedure:

1. Put the gelatine sheets in cold water for about 5-10 minutes to re-hydrate them, they should be squishy and swollen when you use them.
2. Blend the chopped strawberries with 1 tbsp water until smooth. Strain this blended puree for the perfect silky smooth texture, you may skip this if you want.
3. Blend the passion fruit pulp with 50 ml water until mostly smooth. This mixture needs to be strained due to the seeds. Add enough water to the strained mixture to get 250 ml of passion fruit juice.
4. In a small saucepan, heat the passion fruit juice without letting it boil. Add 4 tbsp sugar and mix. Remove from the heat and add 3 gelatine sheets (or 5 g. gelatine powder). Set this aside to cool at room temperature.
5. Again, in another small saucepan, heat the heavy cream without letting it boil. Add 4 tbsp sugar and the strawberry puree, and mix. Remove from the heat and add 3 gelatine sheets (or 5 g. gelatine powder). Set aside to cool as well.
6. In your preferred cups for serving, layer the panna cotta mixture, let it set in the fridge, and then layer on top the jelly mixture. Serve when it's well-set and cool. Garnish with sliced strawberries and enjoy!

I played a little with the panna cotta and jelly layers to get different results, the diagonal layers were achieved by setting the cups sllightly slanted in the fridge, an ice-tray worked well for this. Another idea is to make alternative layers of each mixture. You can also play with different strawberry garnish ideas, I love carving a strawberry in the shape of a rose (it's Valentine's Day after all!), be creative in this, as the recipe is so quick.