Do you have empty PET bottles at home? Don’t discard them! Instead, use their bottom parts as a mold for pretty gelatin or agar agar based desserts: the shape looks like a flower!
Since spring is blossoming at the moment, I suggest trying this easy recipe for delicious d strawberry panna cotta. Panna cotta is a popular Northern Italian sweet that literally translates to “cooked cream”. mycentraljersey.com It’s served chilled and is therefore a perfect dessert for warmer seasons. The classic flavouring is cream and vanilla, but in this rendition I opted for coconut milk and strawberry instead.

 

Recipe for Strawberry Coconut Panna Cotta in a PET Bottle Mold (serves 6)

  • 6 empty 500ml PET bottles with a flower shaped bottom, for example Schweppes
  • 250ml coconut milk (Not to be confused with coconut water! Can be substituted with cream and vanilla essence to get a more classic panna cotta.)
  • 4 Tbs sugar
  • 9g sheet gelatin = 5 sheets
  • 1 cup finely pureed strawberries, sieved
  • optional: milk
  1. First, prepare the molds. Cut away the bottom part of the bottles and wash them thoroughly.
  2. Heat coconut milk and sugar in a pan and stir.
  3. Meanwhile, soak the gelatin sheets in a bowl with cold water for 3-5 minutes.
  4. When the sugar has dissolved, turn off the stove and add the drained gelatin. Stir until it melts down.
  5. Add the mixture to the pureed strawberries and whisk together until it’s well incorporated.
  6. Pour the liquid  into the prepared PET bottle molds. Cover the molds and let the panna cotta set in the refrigerator overnight.
  7. To unmold, loosen the edges with a knife and then dip the mold in a bowl with warm water for a few seconds. Be careful not to dip in for too long, the panna cotta melts easily.
  8. Turn the mold over and place it on the serving plate. Shake gently until the panna cotta releases.
  9. Panna cotta is commonly served with fruit coulis, but since this version is already quite sweet in itself I decided to add plain cold milk. It complements the flavour and acts as a nice colour contrast.

 

Buon appetito!

 

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21 Responses to “PET Bottle Mold Strawberry Panna Cotta”

  • Happy Cook says:

    That is so clever, i will sure thry this method as it looks so so beautiful.

  • Memoria says:

    Haha! So cool!

  • Bird says:

    now, why didn’t I think of that before?! :)

  • Claire says:

    Soooo pretty! What an awesome idea!

  • Rute says:

    I loooooooooooooooooove your blog! I never, ever, met anyone so creative.

    Amazing, the things you do!
    Congratulations for all the prety and imaginative thinks you publish.
    Big kiss from Portugal.

  • kekstesterin says:

    How cute! I really like your style and these strawberry pannacotta flowers are great!

  • Susan says:

    Hehe, once again, I am amazed by your creativity. Such a cute yet simple idea!

  • Alisa says:

    How beautiful this is! I absolutely LOVE your site! I’m going to make this soon!

  • Susann says:

    I’m amazed about your creativity and also the way how you present your ideas in a most beautiful way!
    Therefore I linked to you from my blog.

    But then somebody mentioned (in my German entry) that if you fill something warm into PET bottles (or even parts of PET bottles ;-)) they emit softening agents and something called Bisphenol-A into the food which doesn’t seem to be such a good idea.
    Another commenter suggested to use a plastic wrap (made for food!) to use as separator, but none of has has tried it yet.

    • Jojo Krang says:

      Thanks for linking, Susann! And thanks for mentioning the health risk as well, I didn’t think about this at all. I guess you can overcome the problem by either letting the mixture cool down before pouring or by laying the mold out with a plastic wrap like the comment suggested :-)

      • DEBORA says:

        Hey, I’ve been doing some research and found that PET bottles don’t contain Bisphenol-A, so in that sense, it’s safe.

        Cheers

  • DEBORA says:

    Hey Jojo! I miss your posts :( is everything OK? I keep coming to your blog to see what you have come up to lately ^^ I hope everything is fine and you’ll be back soon :D

    • Jojo Krang says:

      Hi Debora. Thanks for asking, everything’s fine. I was just kind of busy lately, but today I published a new post after this long pause as you’ve probably noticed :-D

  • Jojo, you are true to your words when you said you like visually pleasing things… and you are exceptionally creative! I would have never thought of this! Can’t wait to see what you have up your sleeves :) You have a new follower in me!

  • Susann says:

    “Thanks for linking, Susann!”
    Don’t mention it, I never would have thought about the topic of health risks myself ;-))

    I’m looking forward to seeing more of your ideas, they’re soo great!

  • Tunde says:

    Happened to find you blog through dessertstalking.This is ingenious !! Recycle and reuse at its best :P ! I’ll now be obsessed with looking @ the bottom of different bottles to use as molds :D Plus panna cotta is so good :D !!

  • Eugene Humphries says:

    The teapot is gorgeous! Thanks so much for sharing it!!!

  • Hazel louis says:

    awesome stuf…..am surely gonna try it…smart idea..!

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