Updated November 17, 2018
Orange panna cotta is creamy and fresh dessert, one of the Christmas dessert ideas you can make for your family! If you like easy no bake desserts, this creamy and fresh panna cotta recipe is for you. Beautiful dessert in a glass.
This time of the year we all want to share more Christmas flavors – cinnamon, cloves, oranges… so I decided to make panna cotta with these flavors and fresh orange juice.
What’s more, this orange panna cotta is an easy gluten free dessert and you won’t need to switch the oven on! Also, for both recipes I used agar as a thickener instead of regular gelatin. Moreover, you can make it vegan-friendly by using non-diary milk, such as almond milk or coconut milk will work just perfect with this dessert.
This orange panna cotta is recipe of desserts for two in 400 ml/ 13.5 fl oz glasses. But you can easily double or triple the ingredients to make it for more guests and family members. This is a beautiful dessert in a glass, isn’t it?
Serving orange panna cotta
I believe that serving desserts in a glass for every person has positive sides. First, you don’t need to worry how to carefully release the perfect panna cotta from its mold. Secondly, you will have less dirty dishes, as the glass is the mold and serving dish in one! Moreover, you can use differently shaped glasses for this recipe!
Do you like orange deserts as much as we do? Then you definitely need to check our Rustic Orange Cake recipe below:
How to make panna cotta
To make this panna cotta, you should find the bowl, put there kitchen towel and place the the glasses so that you can fill them under an angle. You can also use plastic containers from veggies or greens that you buy in store. I used one similar to make this Persimmon panna cotta.
Fill half of the glasses with orange juice mixture, wait until it sets in the fridge. Then remove the glasses from the bowl and fill them with milk and cream mixture, and leave in the fridge. When it sets, decorate with melissa (or lemon balm) and shredded chocolate.
Tip. Cook cream with agar powder and cinnamon stick on a low heat. You can also add vanilla pod or vanilla extract, if you wish to make vanilla panna cotta. To make it more indulgent, you can use only double cream with no milk addition. If you wish to make this dessert with coconut milk, but better use together with coconut cream, otherwise you may double Agar powder, or it will be too runny.
To make fresh orange juice, cut the oranges in half and use citrus juicer. Remove orange seeds and orange zest from the juice. You can also make more pretty and bright color by using blood orange.
By the way, this Christmas panna cotta is also great for Valentine’s day!
This dessert is one of the best holiday recipes. This treat and coffee panna cotta are delicious and easy Christmas desserts to make. We have more delicious Christmas recipes like these chocolate truffles that you can make at home for gifts.
Orange Panna Cotta
- two 400 ml / 13.5 fl oz glasses
- spoons
- kitchen towel
- 400 ml fresh orange juice
- 8 g Agar-Agar powder 4 tsp
- 200 ml heavy cream
- 200 ml full fat milk
- 6 g Agar-Agar powder
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 cloves
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 4 peppermint leaves or lemon balm
- 1 tsp shredded chocolate
- Juice 4 oranges to get 2 cups juice. Sieve the juice to remove any skins or seeds.400 ml fresh orange juice
- Add Agar to the juice and mix well. Cook in a pan on a low heat for 2-5 minutes. Let it cool a little.8 g Agar-Agar powder
- Put kitchen towel in a bowl and place the glasses so that you can fill them under an angle. Fill half of each glass with orange juice. Leave to set in the fridge.
- Dissolve Agar in warm milk. Mix it with heavy cream, stir in sugar, add spices. Cook on a low heat 3-5 minutes, then let it cool for about 10-15 minutes Remove the spices.200 ml heavy cream, 6 g Agar-Agar powder, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 cloves, 2 tbsp sugar, 200 ml full fat milk
- When the orange juice is set, remove the glasses from the bowl and fill with milk and cream mixture. Leave the panna cotta in the fridge for an hour until set or overnight.
- Decorate with peppermint leaves and chocolate. Serve.4 peppermint leaves, 1 tsp shredded chocolate
Can I use gelatin instead of agar ? If so how much for each ?
Hi Christina. As a general rule, you can substitute agar for powdered gelatin in equal amounts, but it will change the texture of panna cotta. I would recommend to test it before serving.
I love panna cotta and this looks absolutely beautiful. It would make a perfect dessert for any day over the festive season – or any day of the year!
Thank you! Yes, it is such a rich and delicious dessert!
Looked beautiful! Tasted boring. Very little orange flavor. I followed the recipe to the letter.
Hi Kelley,
Thank you for the feedback.
The orange flavor depends on the freshness and type of the orange. Navel orange is considered the world best-tasting orange, but everyone has her/his own taste. We don’t use any flavor enhancers.
The quality of cinnamon and cloves also impact the flavor. If you want to experiment, you can try add ground cinnamon (add it to the cooled cream), anise and ginger.
Also we love using as less sugar as possible in our recipes, so our taste buds are not used to very sweet products. Maybe you should add more sugar to your taste.
These are beautiful! I love serving individual desserts, and for all the reasons you listed. 🙂 The angles of the colors makes these so unique. The touch of cinnamon is so lovely, too.
Thank you, Valentina! Yes, individual desserts are underrated sometimes, but are easy to make and easy to share.
What a beautiful looking Panna Cotta! I love the contrast between the 2 colours. Thanks for sharing and lots of handy tips in the post. Cheers
Thank you, Adrianne! Looks festive, tastes delicious 🙂
We love panna cotta but I’ve never made orange. The presentation is gorgeous!
Thanks! You need to try with orange, too.
Orange Panacotta looks delicious. Such a perfect Christmas dessert.
Absolutely! Perfect any time of the year, but so good for Christmas.
This is such a delicious and beautiful dessert! The colors are so gorgeous!
Thanks so much, Liz!
Love how pretty this dessert is!
Thank you for a lovely comment!
I prepared this fabulous recipe with great success using 1 cup heavy cream and 3 cups light cream. I didn’t have vanilla bean so I used 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. I think maybe I should have used less, because after adding the orange rind I didn’t get a strong orange flavor. To increase the orange flavor I squeezed in about a teaspoon of orange juice and the flavors tasted correct. However I think by using liquid vanilla and orange I had a bit too much liquid for the gelatin. The panna cotta was just a teeny bit loose when I served it. Next time I’ll just remove a teaspoon or two from the liquid before I add the gelatin so the ratio of liquid to gelatin is the same as the original recipe. But I would make this dessert again and again because it is stunningly delicious. Oh and I served it with a raspberry sauce I found elsewhere. The orange and raspberry flavors pair really well.
Great to hear that you liked this recipe! By the way, you can find raspberry sauce recipe on our blog, too. Just search for Raspberry cheesecake 😉