Currant Panna Cotta Tart
Graham cracker crust, black currant blueberry jam, and a vanilla bean panna cotta - this Currant Panna Cotta Tart is simple and beautiful. It's also the perfect recipe to get creative with!
Servings: 12
Equipment
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 200 grams graham crackers
- 60 grams salted butter melted
- 50 grams granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Black Currant Blueberry Jam
- 150 grams black currants
- 150 grams blueberries
- 100 grams granulated sugar
Panna Cotta
- 50 grams whole milk cold
- 5 grams powdered gelatin
- 200 grams whole milk
- 200 grams heavy cream
- 50 grams granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste vanilla extract will work too!
Instructions
Graham Cracker Crust
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and place a rack in the center of the oven.
- Blend the graham crackers in a blender until they become a fine powder, similar to flour. You really want the graham crackers to be fine. If they are too coarse, the crust will be too porous causing the custard to soak into it.
- In a medium bowl stir together the sugar, salt, and ground graham crackers. Pour in the melted butter and vanilla and use a fork to mix everything together.
- If it's too dry add a little more butter but be careful not to make it too wet. It should still seem crumbly.
- Pour the mixture into the tart pan. Press most of the crust into the sides of the pan first and then the rest across the bottom with your fingers.
- Use your thumb or your pointer finger to really press it into the bottom corner so that you don't get a super thick pastry corner. Make sure the crust reaches all the way to the top of the pan.
- Take your time with this, it's important that it is neat and even before baking and filling. I like to go in with a flat bottomed cup to press the crust in cleanly after I've done 95% with my fingers.
- Place the pan on a baking sheet and then bake it in the hot oven for 12-15 minutes until it looks dry on the surface.
- Set the crust aside to cool down, be careful not to bump or touch it as it is extra fragile while warm.
Black Currant Blueberry Jam
- In a medium pot, add in the black currants, blueberries, and sugar. Cover with a lid and place over medium low heat until it starts to steam.
- Once steaming, take the lid off of the pot. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally to keep it from bubbling over or burning on the bottom.
- As you cook the bubbles will go from light and foamy to thick and jammy. It will still seam a little runny but it will thicken as it cools.
- Once the bubbles are thick and jammy, turn off the heat and pour the jam onto a shallow dish or baking sheet to allow it to cool off.
Panna Cotta Filling
- In a medium metal mixing bowl pour in 50 grams of cold whole milk. Sprinkle over the gelatin and stir to combine. Set aside to bloom.
- In a separate pot add in the milk, sugar, cream and salt. If using vanilla extract, add it in now, if using vanilla bean paste wait to add it until finished cooking.
- Heat over medium low heat whisking occasionally until just beginning to bubble.
- Remove from the heat and pour over the bloomed gelatin, whisk to combine. The hot milk and cream will melt the bloomed gelatin. If using, add in the vanilla bean paste and whisk again.
Assemble
- Once the crust has cooled, add about 3/4 of the jam into the base of the tart.
- Use a ladle or a measuring cup with a spout to carefully pour the panna cotta mixture over the jam.
- Spoon the remaining jam in little dollops around the surface. They will sink in but that's ok. Once added you can swirl the jam and panna cotta together a little but be careful not to scrape the crust.
- Transfer the tart to the fridge and let it set overnight.To serve, take the set tart out of the fridge. Carefully use a knife to loosen or split the removable base of the tart pan from the edge.
- If you can loosen the tart from the base do so and transfer it to a large flat plate or cake stand. But if you're nervous you can totally leave the base on. It's not ideal for your knife to cut on a metal base but occasionally it's ok!
- Optionally top with more fruit such as white currants, raspberries, etc. Store leftovers in the fridge!
Notes
Tips for making a Currant Panna Cotta Tart
- It's best to make this tart the day before so that the filling has a chance to set and become sliceable.
- For this recipe I used this pan which I love but if you only have a pie pan or a pan with even taller sides that works too!
- I prefer to blend the graham crackers because I find you get a better texture and the crust holds together a bit better but smashing them will work too! I love Annie's honey graham crackers but most standard brands should work ok!
- All graham crackers aren't created equal so I recommend adding in the butter, mixing it and adding more just until it holds together. If you add too much butter it will all leak out of the bottom of the tart pan.
- Be sure to let the crust cool completely before adding in the jam and panna cotta to keep it from mixing into the filling.
- When heating the milk and cream, do not walk away. It should just barely start to bubble before you turn the heat off.
- If you don't have access to black currants, the jam could be made with basically anything. I do recommend making your own because you can control the sweetness level. I would recommend raspberry, blueberry, red currant or even blackberry, plum butter, or apricot compote!