Toasted Coconut Panna Cotta with Hibiscus and Pomegranate

Seasonal Sweets

Recipes that highlight the best ingredients of the season.

Jenny McCoy

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[Photographs: Eunice Choi]

Panna Cotta, which translates to "cooked cream" in Italian, is by far one of my favorite desserts. It's super light and creamy, yet satisfying at the same time. When made with just the right amount of gelatin, it has an amazingly soft and smooth texture.

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Much like custards, the base of panna cotta can lend itself to any flavor with the quick infusion of a dried spice or herb or the addition of chocolate chips or citrus zest, making it one of my first choices in recipes to pair with the best of the season's fruit.

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This panna cotta takes a bit of advance planning—you can't serve it right away as the gelatin needs to set for several hours—but it's actually pretty easy to prep using ingredients you probably already have on hand. And when you don't have heavy cream around, you can substitute with plain yogurt or sour cream for a tangy version of this dessert.

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This variation is one of the fanciest of my panna cotta recipes. It pairs the tropical flavor of coconut (which is my go-to at the end of winter when I'm so tired of apples, pears, and citrus fruits) with a bright fuschia-colored layer of hibiscus gelee and little gems of pomegranate seeds. Make it for your next dinner party, when you are in the mood to impress, or when you just want to pretend you're on a tropical island and not trapped under weeks of snow.

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Pastry Chef, Author, Instructor

Jenny enrolled in the Baking and Pastry Program at Chicago’s Kendall College, just after graduating from high school, on a whim. Knowing she wasn’t ready to enter college proper, she decided, “If I like baking, I’ll have a job; if I don’t, I’ll know how to make great birthday cakes—where’s the harm?” Lucky for Jenny, she fell in love with the kitchen and landed positions in a variety of Chicago’s top restaurants, including Charlie Trotter’s, Blackbird, Gordon and Bittersweet Bakery. It was in these kitchens where Jenny learned to refine her palate and develop her talent for composing seasonal desserts. Following her formative experiences in fine dining, Jenny took a brief hiatus from professional baking and traveled to various countries in Europe, South and Central America to broaden her culinary vocabulary. With an interest in food beyond the kitchen, she also returned to school and completed a BA in Food Writing at DePaul University. When Jenny returned to the pastry kitchen, it was in New Orleans. There, she had the opportunity to oversee three restaurant pastry departments for Emeril Lagasse, as well as contribute weekly to the Cooking Blog at Emerils.com. While working at Emeril's Delmonico, Jenny was a nominee for the PastryScoop.com Best Dessert Menu Award in 2006. It wasn’t long, however, before she felt the pull of New York City’s vibrant culinary scene; she moved north a few years later. Since her arrival, Jenny’s worked in New York City as the opening pastry chef at Marc Forgione, and for A Voce, where she ran pastry operations for both their Madison Square and Columbus Circle locations. She then moved on to work for Tom Colicchio at his flagship restaurant, Craft, where she was influenced by her varied pastry background and knowledge of ingredients and flavors. In September 2011, ten years after Craft opened, she helped the restaurant earn its second three-star review from The New York Times. She was also awarded the 2011 NYC Rising Star Pastry Chef Award from StarChefs.com. In 2012, Jenny stepped out of professional kitchen to co-found Cissé Trading Company, a line of gourmet and fair trade hot cocoa and baking mixes; and to work with leading companies such as Starbucks, the Almond Board of California, and Chinet as a tastemaker and brand ambassador. A year later, her products can be found in 500+ stores nationally, including Whole Foods Market. Currently, Jenny is a chef-instructor at The Institute of Culinary Education (ICE); just published her first cookbook, Desserts for Every Season; is the co-chair of The Center for Advanced Pastry Studies (CAPS) at ICE; volunteers to help change school lunch programs in the NYC Department of Education with Wellness in the Schools; and is eagerly awaiting the launch of her online class series at Craftsy.com. Jenny also consults with small food producers to help them commercialize their products for grocery store sales. Throughout her career, Jenny has appeared in many print and media outlets for her work as an authority in the baking and pastry industry.

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