Honey Panna Cotta – How To Make It Simple Beautiful and Delicious

Oh my word – this honey panna cotta has just jumped straight to the top of my favorite desserts list! Even though it doesn’t have chocolate in it! (I know – you’re asking what happened to the real Barbara??) But it’s THAT delicious!! And it’s super easy to make – you just have to do it the day before you want to eat it. Not only delicious, but an excellent incentive to practice being ok with some slightly delayed gratification!

But I can promise, it’s completely worth it! It’s a glorious combination of silky smooth honey-vanilla and crunchy almond toffee, and it looks beautiful too. My guests loved it, and were still talking about it days later!

Jump to Recipe

The Origin of this Honey Panna Cotta

But first, credit where credit’s due, and credit is definitely due to Marie Roffey at SugarSaltMagic.com. She’s created several panna cotta recipes, and this is my favorite! Which I can easily say, because this honey panna cotta is the first panna cotta I’ve ever made. And I’m now a fully-fledged panna cotta convert! I’ll be going back for more very soon.

Only 6 Ingredients

It’s super easy to make. There are only six ingredients, plus the almond toffee brittle topping if you want to use that, which I would highly recommend, because that’s what makes the dish extra fabulous, in my opinion. (In my guests’ opinions too!)

I pretty much made Marie’s recipe exactly as she wrote it, except I used vanilla instead of almond flavor, because I totally love vanilla! And I greased the ramekins with butter instead of cooking spray, only because I didn’t have any spray. Plus, I love butter.

The Honey Panna Cotta Process

The honey panna cotta process is so easy! Pour the milk into a large saucepan, but don’t turn the stove on yet. Then sprinkle the gelatin over it. It takes 5-10 minutes to “bloom,” by which, they mean it gets all wrinkly. See the picture below.

Then you turn on low heat under the pan, and stir till the gelatin dissolves. Mix in the honey.

Take the milk and honey off the stove, and mix in the cream, vanilla, and salt.

That’s it!

Then pour it into your prepared ramekins, put them in the fridge, and let them set up. (This takes longer than you might think – see the Honey Panna Cotta Tips below.) I used a couple different kinds of ramekins, only because I didn’t have enough of the little clear bowls that were my first choice.

The Almond Toffee Brittle Topping

When you add this almond toffee brittle topping to that delicious panna cotta, it takes it from “merely” delicious to Absolutely Fabulous! It’s super easy to make, too. I actually used some toasted sugar instead of regular white sugar, and it gave the toffee an extra depth of flavor – richer and caramel-ier. You can get the recipe for toasted sugar in the Toasted Sugar Champagne Cake post.

To make the toffee, you basically dissolve the sugar in water and cook it till it turns a little caramel-colored, then pour it over almonds and let it harden. I sprinkled a little coarse salt over it too, just because.

When it’s cooled, you break it up into pieces. I just folded the paper over and cracked the toffee with my fingers.

Then it goes into the food processor. I learned a new term for chopping up this kind of thing, it’s called “blitzing.” Which means that you just pulse it a few times until it’s the consistency you want.

And that’s really all there is to it! It looks like little pieces of amber with almonds in them. And it tastes amazing!

Honey Panna Cotta Tips

Now, if you’ve been following along with my culinary adventures for a while, you know that things don’t always go as planned. (For instance, there was the infamous adventure of The Chess Board Brownies … ) And my first batch of honey panna cotta didn’t turn out so well either. The reason for that is my very most important tip:

Always Use The Proper Ingredients!

How do I know that this is so important? Well on that first batch, instead of gelatin powder, I used a “Gelatin Substitute,” which basically turned out to be vegan jello! Vegan jello may be deicious on its own, but let me tell you, it doesn’t work the same way regular gelatin powder works! I ended up with a lumpy cream jelly that tasted awful and looked worse! I wasted a whole batch of honey and vanilla too.

So remember to actually go to the store and buy some fresh gelatin powder if you don’t have any at home.

Make Ahead

You can make the panna cottas 2-3 days ahead. In fact, they SHOULD be made at least 1 day in advance, especailly if you’re going to turn them out of the ramekins onto pates to serve them. They really take longer than you think they will to set up, and if your bowls are a bit on the large side, it takes even longer. I made mine about 6 hours ahead and they were still very soft when I unmolded them.

You can see in this picture how the sides of this one didn’t really set up and were a bit soft, and some of the edges slid down. It was one of the larger ramekins, and obviously just needed more time.

But even though some of them didn’t look as perfect as I would have liked, they all still tasted abolutely, deliciously, fabulous!

Use Really Good Honey

There’s honey in the panna cotta itself, plus, you’ll drizzle some more on top. It really is the star of the show, so you want it to be delicious on its own. I used Glory Bee honey, and it was in fact, glorious!

Tips for Unmolding the Honey Panna Cotta

You can serve the honey panna cottas in regular dessert dishes if you want. There’s nothing that says you have to turn them out onto plates. But if you do want to, here are some tips to make sure they come out well.

• First, like I mentioned above, lightly grease your ramekins or bowls.
• When it’s time to unmold them, let them sit in a pan with an inch of hot water for 10-20 seconds.
• Then put a plate on the top of your ramekin and flip the whole thing over. You may need to shake the panna cotta a bit to make it slide out of the ramekin and onto the plate.
• If it’s not coming out, press very lightly around the edge with your finger to release it from the sides and try again.
• If it’s still not coming out, put it back into the hot water for a little bit, then repeat.
• Don’t unmold them more than a couple hours before dinner, and be sure to keep them flat in the fridge until you’re ready to serve. They’ll lose their shape if they get too warm.

I Hope You Get To Try This Soon!

I love creamy desserts, but even with that, I was surprised by how much I really loved this honey panna cotta! I hope you get to try it soon and see what you think! And let me know – I love to hear from you! Happy Dessert!

Barbara’s Boutique Recommendations

Click on the pictures of the pieces I used in this post. If the exact item isn’t available any more, I chose a similar option.

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The Recipe

Shared With

• Metamorphosis Monday 10.13.25 – Hosted by Between Naps on the Porch
• Tuesday Turn About 10.14.25 – Hosted by My Wee Abode
• Metamorphosis Monday 02.23.26 – Hosted by Between Naps on the Porch