Eggnog Panna Cotta is the most delicious make-ahead holiday dessert! It’s creamy and full of holiday flavor. This one is made with real eggnog and of course spiced rum!
Whether you’re hosting a Christmas brunch or Christmas Eve dinner party, panna cotta is a wonderful dessert for any occasion! It’s a rich and creamy Italian dessert. We’ve always made this vanilla version and used it for the base of our eggnog panna cotta.
The only hard part about this recipe is letting it sit overnight! However, it also makes a wonderful make-ahead dessert for the holidays.
Panna cotta makes a wonderful addition to a holiday dessert table too!
For this recipe, we used store-bought eggnog which works great. When buying the eggnog, make sure it’s real eggnog. There are several options for low-fat, almond, vegan, etc. For the recipe to thicken it needs to be real, dairy eggnog.
WHAT IS PANNA COTTA MADE OF?
It’s a basic pudding that is made of dairy thickened with gelatin. It originated in Italy and its name literally means “cooked cream,” since the earliest versions were made of thick cream, sometimes thickened with fish bones… ahh!
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST PANNA COTTA – STEP BY STEP
Ingredients
- Eggnog
- Heavy Cream
- Spiced Rum
- Sugar
- Gelatin
- Vanilla
- Salt
Directions
- Pour milk and eggnog into a saucepan. Sprinkle with gelatin and then set aside for ten minutes.
- Heat the milk to 140 degrees on medium heat for about 7 minutes. I brought mine to a boil for a few minutes as well.
- Whisk constantly to remove any gelatin bumps and so the milk doesn’t burn.
- This is an important step when making panna cotta as it will affect the thickening process.
- Also note, if you see little tiny bumps in the boiling process continue whisking and they will eventually melt. Sometimes the gelatin takes a little longer to fully melt away.
- Turn off the heat and then add sugar, rum, salt, and vanilla.
- Pour the liquid into 6 small ramekins (or heatproof glasses) on a baking sheet and pour the cream into the cups.
- Refrigerate about 6 hours until it’s a custard consistency.
- Sprinkle with cinnamon and then garnish how you want!!
We added little gingerbread men purchased at a store. Also, cinnamon sticks would be great as well as tiny gingerbread houses.
These tiny gingerbread sprinkles would be adorable too!
An Easy Make-Ahead Dessert
This dessert may look like a fancy five stars, but it’s so easy to make! 10 minutes prep and then 10 to cook, after that pop them in the fridge to set, perfect make-ahead desserts!
How long will panna cotta last in the refrigerator?
Refrigerate for at least 4-6 hours, or until completely set. This time will vary for every person as all of our refrigerators are at different temperatures in different areas.
If you like, top with fresh fruit, berries, berry sauce, or lemon curd. It can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 3 days.
TOP TIPS FOR THE BEST PANNA COTTA
- Choose unflavored gelatin and make sure it has completely dissolved in your mix.
- Avoid fruit with high bromelain content such as pineapples or kiwi. These types of fruit tend to affect how solid and smooth the panna cotta is.
- Simmer, don’t boil, when heating your base of cream and sugar.
Another tip – when the cream sets it will have a slight film of cream over the top. This is totally fine, but you can also avoid it by adding a tiny piece of plastic wrap over the top (touching the cream) before putting it in the refrigerator. When the panna cotta sets, remove the plastic wrap and you will not have a layer over the top!
More Holiday Recipes You’ll Love!
Chocolate Cherry Chunk Cookies
How to Build a Gingerbread House
Santa Hat Gingerbread Cupcakes
Godiva Gingerbread Marshmallow Fluff
Let us know if you make our Eggnog Panna Cotta by leaving a comment and review below! We would love to hear your thoughts! Also, please tag @sugarandcharm on social so we can see what you make and share.
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Eggnog Panna Cotta
Ingredients
- 2 cups eggnog
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1.5 tbsp gelatin, measure half of the tablespoon for the extra 1/2 gelatin.
- 7 tbsp sugar
- 3 tbps spiced rum
- 3/8 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Pour eggnog and heavy cream into a saucepan. Sprinkle with gelatin and then set aside for ten minutes.
- Heat the milk to 140 degree. Medium heat for about 7 minutes. I brought mine to a boil for a minute too. Stir constantly so it won't burn or overboil.
- Turn off the heat and then add sugar, rum, salt, and vanilla.
- Place 6 ramekins (or heatproof glass) on a baking sheet and pour the cream into them.
- Refrigerate about 6 hours until it’s a custard consistency or overnight.
- Sprinkle cinnamon on top, then garnish how you want. Cinnamon stick, tiny gingerbread man or house. So many cute ways to style your eggnog panna cotta!
Interested in trying this recipe, but it doesn’t say when to add the sugar or the rum. The picture of the step as the custard comes off the heat, implies pouring sugar(there is way too much in that bowl to be the salt), is this the time to add the rum too?
Hi! We have updated it 🙂