Valentine’s Day in Italy!
Valentine’s day is now a world famous celebration of love. As its very origin comes form my native country of Italy, where I happen to be on vacation at the moment, I decided to celebrate the day with my two favorite Italian sweets, combined: Panna Cotta and Crema Pasticciera.
Panna cotta and cream are the perfect dessert if you are carbohydrate intolerant or pre-diabetic!
Panna cotta and cream: Keto modified!
Crema pasticciera was one of my favorite things growing up in Italy, but unfortunately it is made with flour to thicken it.
To make it right for a ketogenic diet I decided to use gelatin instead of the flour. The cream came out beautifully! The texture was just perfectly creamy and thick enough, and the flavor was unchanged. In the recipe I added a bit extra gelatin in order to make the consistency firmer, so it could be cut to hear shape and eaten with a spoon.
The result is a wonderful creamy dessert that can be used as a fat bomb if you are shot fat in your daily macros!
- Serves: 8 portions
- Serving size: 1 portion
- Calories: 467
- Fat: 53gr
- Carbohydrates: 0.5
- Fiber: 0gr
- Protein: 4 gr

- For the Panna Cotta:
- 2 cups (circa 500 ml) organic heavy whipping cream (not ultrapastureized better raw!)
- 2 Tsp (10gr) of Gelatin (I strongly recommend this one)
- 2 TBS (30gr) Swerve OR Confectioner Swerve
- 1 TBS vanilla exctract OR ½ vanilla bean
- For the Cream
- 2 cups (circa 500 ml) organic heavy whipping cream (not ultrapastureized better raw!)
- 2 Tsp (10gr) of Gelatin (I strongly recommend this one)
- 6 organic or pastured egg yolks
- 4 TBS (60gr) Swerve OR Confectioner Swerve
- 1 TBS vanilla exctract OR ½ vanilla bean
- zest of 1 organic lemon
- 1 tsp of butter for greasing
- Decoration:
- 2 TBS chopped roasted hazelnuts
- Additional tools:
- Heart shaped cookie cutter
- Square or round springform pan
- First make the panna cotta:
- sprinkle the gelatin on the cream and stir well
- in a small saucepan warm the cream on a very low flame stirring constantly until all the gelatin is dissolved
- add the Swerve and the vanilla extract and keep stirring for another minute
- do not let the cream come to a boil
- after a minute turn off flame and let sit for about a minute
- grease the springform with the butter
- now pour half the pannacotta mixture in the bottom of the springform and let cool
- (you might want to put it in the fridge once it has reached room temperature, for faster setting)
- keep the remaining pannacotta fluid by keeping it in a warm oven (170degrees)
- now prepare the cream:
- like you did for the pannacotta mix the cream and the gelatin and stir well
- In the same small sauce pan start warming the cream on a very low flame
- in the meantime in a medium bowl whisk the egg yolks with the Swerve and the lemon zest until they are well emulsified (they should be whitish and fluffy)
- now very slowly add a cup of warm cream to the egg mixture, whisking the whole time and being careful not to get lumps
- once the mix is fluid and blended with the cup of cream add it to the saucepan carefully and again constantly whisking so yo do not get lumps
- bring the mix to a simmer, keep whisking, and cook for about 3 minutes, until the cream starts to thicken
- let cool for about 5 minutes, whisking occasionally
- once the pannacotta layer has solidified at the top pour the cooled cream into the springform pan distributing it evenly, the cream should be pretty thick and solid but still spreadable
- now pout the last half of the pannacotta on top and let cool
- once cooled to room temperature you can put the springform in the fridge for 3 hours or overnight.
- Before serving:
- remove border form the springform after loosening the sided with a pointed knife
- now heal the heart shaped cutter in hot water until warm to the touch
- cut as many hearts as possible into the panna cotta and cream
- you can remove the hearts with a very flat spatula and a knife, cutting off the exceeding 'dough"
- Serve cold with a sprinkle of toasted hazelnuts
- Option 2
- You can just cut the panna cotta and cream into squares and serve with a spatula.
Note for Keto Paleo
You can substitute the dairy cream with coconut cream. I usually use the cream part of a can of coconut milk, after I refrigerate the can overnight and after it separates form the coconut water.
The results will be just as delicious, as I tested in my previous panna cotta recipe!
Comments 1
Congratulations!!! So excited for you!!