Cereal Milk Panna Cotta | Momofuku

Another chapter in our love-hate relationship with David Chang/Momofuku. I can't help it - the recipes always come with the coolest names! Blueberries and cream cookies....cereal-milk....chocolate hazelnut thing...compost cookies....I'm just a sucker for cool names.

This recipe falls under the "acquired taste" category. Some may like it and scrape the cup clean...others will take one bite and put their spoons down. My opinion? It was fun to make, ok to eat but extremely labor intensive. I had to give my cereal milk a couple of runs because the panna cotta wouldn't set properly. Ray got very, very mad that I used up all his corn flakes. It was also hard to adjust the sweetness with so many components to the dessert and I ended up oversweetening.

There are a couple of iterations with this recipe. There are two in the NY times:
1. Cereal-Milk Panna Cotta with Carmelized Cornflake Crunch
2. Strawberry Panna Cotta with Cereal-Milk Mousse and Cornflake Crumble

And then there is the recipe in the Momofuku cookbook:
Cereal Milk Panna Cotta

I ended up stealing a little bit of everything from each recipe - only because I didn't have all the ingredients to stick to one version. Happy cereal-milking!

Cereal-Milk Panna Cotta & Caramelized Corn Flakes

For the Panna Cotta
6 cups Kellogg’s Corn Flakes
3 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon powdered gelatin (about 1 1/2 packages)

To make the panna cotta, heat oven to 300 degrees. Spread cereal on a baking sheet and bake until toasty, about 12 minutes. While still warm, transfer to large bowl or container and add milk and cream. Stir to combine and let steep 45 minutes. (Dessert will get too starchy if it steeps longer.)



Strain into a microwave-safe bowl or a saucepan, pressing to extract liquid. (Discard soggy cereal or eat it.) Add salt and brown sugar, and heat just until milk is hot enough to dissolve sugar, watching carefully. Stir gently to dissolve sugar. Ladle 1/4 cup milk mixture into a small bowl and mix in gelatin. Set aside 5 minutes, then whisk soaked gelatin back into remaining milk mixture.

Divide mixture among 8 ramekins or silicone molds. Refrigerate until set, about 2 hours.

For the Cereal-Milk Mousse:
3 cups cornflakes
2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 teaspoons powdered gelatin
Pinch salt
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, toast the cornflakes until light brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Let cool; keep the oven set to 275 degrees. In a sealable container, combine the cornflakes and the milk. Let steep for 20 minutes, then strain; the mixture should yield about 1 cup “cereal milk.” You can combine this step with the cereal milk made for the panna cotta.

Place 1/2 cup cereal milk in a medium bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin on top. In a small pan, scald 1/2 cup cereal milk with the salt and the brown sugar. Whisk the hot milk into the cool milk until the gelatin is dissolved. Chill until almost set. Whip the cream to stiff peaks and fold it into the almost-set gelatin. Spoon this on top of the chilled panna cotta and let set completely.

For the Caramelized Cornflakes
3/4 cup Kellogg’s Corn Flakes
3 tablespoons nonfat milk powder
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted.

Pre-heat oven to 275 degrees. Put 3/4 cup cereal in a large bowl and crush lightly with your hands. In a small bowl, stir together milk powder, sugar and salt. Sprinkle mixture over crushed flakes and add melted butter. Toss to coat cereal evenly.



Spread on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or a nonstick baking mat) and bake 20 minutes, or until deep golden brown. Remove from pan and set aside to cool.



For the Chocolate-Hazelnut Thing
1/4 cup praline paste
1/3 cup gianduja (Nutella will do)
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon bittersweet chocolate (70-72%)
1/2 teaspoon corn syrup
2 tablespoon Caramelized Cornflakes

Combine the Nutella, praline paste, grapeseed oil, kosher salt, chocolate and corn syrup in in a microwave-safe bowl and stir to combine. Microwave the mixture for 10 seconds, then stir it up and repeat four or five times, until the mixture is fluid and homogenous. Spread the mixture out on a baking sheet lined with a Silpat. You want the mixture to be about 1/4 inch thick, no thinner. Sprinkle the top of the mixture with the Caramelized Cornflakes.




Place the baking sheet in the freezer to set, about about 20 minutes. Break the chocolate into uneven pieces (I cut them for ease of serving).



To cut the richness of the Panna Cotta, I macerated some strawberries in sugar and aged balsamic vinegar to serve on top.



To assemble, just layer the panna cotta with the mousse, strawberries and cornflakes. Adorn each glass with a piece of the chocolate. Serve chilled.