Tea and Lemon Panna Cotta Bars
Our London based lovely Chef Hana created these beautiful, delicious brownie bars with tea and lemon - How English!
Three Lemon and Tea Panna Cotta Bars
This recipe is really two recipes in one and you can adapt it any way you like. Bake the brownies and make the panna cotta separately in molds. Use it as two separate recipes or make it into the bars. You can use a variety of teas, each one will have its own bouquet. Earl Grey is Hana's first choice with its bergamot notes.
First make the brownies. Some sorghum flour combined together with sunflower seeds works really well in this recipe. They come out beautifully soft and rich. And they are wonderful when slightly warm. Once stored in a fridge they will become dense and fudgy so depending on how you like your brownies, leave them to set with the top layer at room temperature to keep them soft and cakey or in a fridge for a denser, fudgier finish. They are chocolate rich and if you like to make them lighter you can just reduce the chocolate. These in the pictures were set in a fridge overnight so are denser.
The lemon panna cotta base is created with oat cream and agar powder and turmeric to add a beautiful yellow color. Start with a small amount and work your way to the color level desired.
Because the cake always pulls away from the edges of the baking pan it helps to bake the brownie layer in a slightly larger pan and then cut a 7″ square to snuggly fit into a 7″ square cake pan before topping it with the panna cotta layer. That way none of the top layer spills over the edges. Cut the edges with a sharp knife to make the slices neat.
These are lovely in appearance as is and enhanced with just a few fruit or flower additions.
INGREDIENTS:
Tea Infused brownies:
70g sorghum flour (1/2 cup)
70g sunflower seeds (1/2 cup), ground into flour consistency
2tbsp tapioca flour
75g rapadura sugar (1/2 cup)
1tsp baking powder
pinch sea salt
2tbsp ground flaxseed + 6tbsp water
60ml olive oil (1/4 cup)
80ml strong earl grey or other tea plus more as needed (1/3 cup)
1tsp vanilla extract
200g dark vegan chocolate (7oz) I've used Amore di Mona
Lemon panna cotta:
480ml oat cream (2 cups)
zest of 2 lemons (add at the end)
juice of 2 lemons
80ml maple syrup (1/3 cup)
2tsp vanilla extract
turmeric powder
3tsp agar powder
INSTRUCTIONS:
Earl grey brownies:
Mix 2tbsp ground flaxseed with 6tbsp water and set aside to thicken. Brew earl grey tea.
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350F)
Line 10"x7,5" rectangular baking tin or 8"x8" square cake tin. You will need something slightly larger than 7"x7" square cake tin, see notes.
In a large bowl whisk together sorghum flour, ground sunflower seeds, tapioca flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
In a small bowl whisk together gelled flax eggs, olive oil, earl grey tea and vanilla.
Roughly chop the chocolate, place into heatproof bowl and gently melt over pot of simmering water
Add the wet mix to the dry mix and mix until well combined. Add extra tea as needed. Fold in the melted chocolate.
Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and level out the surface.
Place into the oven and bake for about 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool down.
Use the outside of your 7" square cake tin with removable base as a guide to cut out 7" square. It should fit tightly inside the tin. Place at the base and set aside.
Lemon panna cotta:
In a medium pot whisk together oat cream, lemon juice, maple syrup, vanilla, good pinch of turmeric and agar powder and bring to a boil. Gently simmer for about 5 minutes stirring frequently. Take off the heat and stir in lemon zest. At this point you can blend the mix if the zest is not fine enough and you'd like completely smooth finish. Leave to slightly cool down and pour onto the brownie layer.
Depending how you like your brownies leave it to set at room temperature for soft brownies or fridge for fudgy brownies.
Once set cut into 8 rectangular slices.
Enjoy!
NOTES:
The brownies were baked in a 10"x7,5" rectangular baking pan and then cut 7"x7" square to create the base for the cake. You can adjust the recipe depending on baking pans that you have available.
To see more of Chef Hana's fabulous recipes click on her website link below