This plated dessert was actually inspired by sweet peanut milk soup(花生仁汤), a popular canned beverage from my native Taiwan. I still remember the first time I had it, it was in my grandma’s apartment in the Shida district on a hot summer night. It was a milky beverage with these tender, braised peanuts. I was a bit surprised by the texture, because I usually associate whole peanuts with a crunchy mouthfeel. But these tasted more like firm red beans. Which does make sense, since peanuts and beans are both legumes! That beverage was something that I get nostalgic over, and it felt like a good starting point for a plated dessert. For this recipe, I wanted to try braising the peanuts in dulce de leche to recreate something similar to the peanuts in the sweet milk soup, and wanted to use that leftover braising liquid as the base for a panna cotta. So the dessert would have both the panna cotta and the tender braised peanuts in milk, just to introduce that mild peanut-flavored milk in two different ways. Additionally, and this is just a preference of mine, but whenever I had a custard or pudding-like dessert, I love serving it with something cakey to help sponge that up., It could be spongecakes, financiers, or cookies usually, but in this case, I went with madeleines.

A warning, but this recipe takes time. The peanuts need an hour in a pressure cooker to braise until soft. Then the panna cotta will need that braising liquid as a base, and will take another hour to chill down and firm up. Then with the madeleines, these actually don’t take that much time to make, and is a good little component to work on while either the peanuts are braising in the milk or the panna cotta is setting. Brown butter, dulce de leche, and peanuts are really what drive the main flavors in this dessert, giving it a peanut brittle-like profile. I toasted peanuts in brown butter first, then braised them with whole milk and dulce de leche, just to ensure that they are sweetened enough to be a dessert, but also to get a pleasantly toasted background through the milk itself. A warning, but expect the milk to get really reduced during the pressure cooking process; for the panna cotta, I found it tricky to give an exact measurements, but I did specify that you will need to cut the braised peanut milk with heavy cream to add that richness, and that the total liquid between the two should weigh out to 8oz. The madeleines do use brown butter and peanut butter; I have made almond flour-based madeleines in the past, so I figured I could use peanut butter and achieve something similar. If you do not have peanut butter on hand, you can always blend some of the peanuts(not the milk-braised ones), with water to make your own, since the madeleine recipe does not call for that much. I would recommend a ratio of 1oz peanuts to .25oz water to just ensure that you have a little more than enough peanut butter for the recipe! And this does only make enough for 2 portions, so I would recommend scaling it up accordingly if you plan to make this for a dinner party or for other guests(obviously do not serve this to people with a peanut allergy!).

Makes 2 servings(2 panna cotta and 6 madeleines):
For the milk-braised peanuts:
1.5oz peanuts
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1oz dulce de leche
1 cup whole milk
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

In a pressure cooker, start by toasting off the peanuts with the unsalted butter until the butter turns brown. Stir in the other ingredients. Add on the lid and braise the peanuts for 1 hour. Strain out the peanuts, and cover them in just enough of the braising liquid to submerge them, reserving the rest of the panna cotta.

For the panna cotta:
Reserved braised peanut milk
Heavy cream
1 tsp gelatin powder + 1 tbsp cold water

With the reserved milk, add in enough heavy cream to it so that the total liquid measures out to 8oz. Mix the gelatin and cold water together and add that to the dairy. Pour the panna cotta base into a pot and stir on medium heat until the mixture begins to simmer and the gelatin fully dissolves. Allow the mixture to cool down before pouring into two silicone muffin molds. Freeze the panna cottas for 1 hour before attempting to unmold.

For the madeleines:
2 tbsp unsalted butter, browned
1oz peanut butter
1oz dulce de leche
1oz whole milk
1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 egg white
18 milk-braised peanuts

Stir the brown butter, peanut butter, condensed milk, whole milk, and vanilla bean paste. Then mix into that the sifted flour, baking powder, and salt. Then mix into that the egg white to form your batter. Pipe the batter into 6 madeleine molds. Fish out 18 of the braised peanuts and pat them dry with a paper towel. Press 3 of the braised peanuts into each madeleine. Refrigerate the madeleines for 1 hour. Then bake at 375 degrees F for 12 minutes.