Strawberry Jello and Vanilla Panna Cotta Pokeballs

I’m not the most creative person in the world, but I wanted to make something with my sphere molds aside from more mizu shingen mochi (water cakes). I ended up getting inspired by Pokemon; one of the most famous icons of Pokemon is the Pokeball. In the world of Pokemon, trainers will capture Pokemon with Pokeballs. It also just so happens that the Pokemon franchise celebrated its 20th anniversary earlier this year so this is also a fun way to commemorate such an achievement. This also makes me feel old for remembering that I used to play Pokemon Blue on my Gameboy, but I digress.  To make edible Pokeballs, I needed to work with something red, white, and black, and that hopefully would taste good together when combined. The only thing that I could think of that would work was strawberry jello and panna cotta. I’d dye some of the panna cotta black to get the center line.

They aren’t the best looking things, but they’re still pretty neat, and a lot of fun to eat!

Trying to cut through a Pokeball with a spoon on a plate was a little challenging. Note to self: round things tend to roll.

 

Strawberry Jello & Vanilla Panna Cotta Pokeballs

Yields 4-5 pokeballs

Ingredients:

Panna Cotta:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
• 1 vanilla bean or 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin
• 3 Tbsp cold water
• Black food coloring

Strawberry Jello:

• 1 3-oz box of Strawberry flavor Jell-o
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 tsp unflavored gelatin

Instructions:

1. Prepare 4 or 5 spherical molds by coating them with flavorless oil or cooking spray.
2. Prepare the Strawberry Jello.
   1. Combine the Strawberry Jell-o powder with the unflavored gelatin and then add the hot water. Mix until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Pour the Strawberry Jello into sphere molds, filling them half way. Refrigerate the molds for about 15-20 minutes.
3. Prepare the Vanilla Panna Cotta.
   1. Combine the heavy cream, whole milk, and sugar in a medium-size sauce pan. If using a vanilla bean, slice the bean in half, scrape out the seeds, and add them to the milk/cream mixture along with the vanilla bean.
   2. Bring the milk/cream/vanilla bean mixture to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and let it sit for 30 minutes to let the vanilla flavor infuse into the milk and cream.
   3. When ready to continue, pour the 3 Tbsp of cold water over the unflavored gelatin and let bloom for 1-2 minutes in a medium-size bowl that is microwave-safe and will hold at least 2 cups of liquid.
   4. Once the gelatin has bloomed, heat it up in the microwave for approximately 20 seconds.
   5. Bring the milk/cream/vanilla mixture back up to the boil, remove the vanilla bean (if using it), and pour over the gelatin. Dissolve the gelatin in the milk mixture. If using vanilla extract instead of the vanilla bean, add it now.
   6. Let the panna cotta mixture sit at room temperature for approximately 20 minutes to cool slightly.
4. While the panna cotta mixture cools, set aside about 1/3 cup of the vanilla panna cotta mixture. Add black food coloring to the reserved mixture and carefully pour it into the sphere mold, over the set Strawberry Jello. Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.
5. When ready, fill the sphere molds with the remaining panna cotta mixture. Let set for at least 2 hours.