I believe that every great meal needs to be finished with dessert. Ya’ll may not know, but I’m a trained pastry chef as well. In fact when I was a culinary instructor I was one of two chefs who were trained in both disciplines. My passion for dessert has something to do with all my teeth being sweet,  not just one!

But at the moment you can ponder making this awesome dessert. Pictured above is a Brown Sugar Panna Cotta with Rosemary Vanilla Bean Poached Georgia Peaches, a Georgia Pecan Crumble and Raspberry Coulis topped with a Sugar Curl. While you may not want to make everything on this dish, I suggest making the Panna Cotta and the poached Peaches! Plus you can always take a short cut and top it off with toasted chopped pecans as well, and I still guarantee your guests will be impressed with your culinary skills.

Brown Sugar Panna Cotta:

• 1.25 Cups Whipping Cream

• 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar, packed

• 1 tsp. Cinnamon, ground

• 1/4 tsp. Cardamon, ground

• 1.5ea Sheets Gelatin

• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste

In a small bowl place a hand full of ice and fill with cold water. Place the gelatin sheets in the ice water to soften. While the gelatin is softening, in a sauce pot combine the cream, sugar, cinnamon and cardamon whisk well to combine. Bring to a simmer and cook till the sugar has dissolved, stirring continuously. Then remove from the heat, and add the softened gelatin. Whisk to melt the gelatin into the cream mixture. Then whisk in the vanilla bean paste. Pour equal amounts of the mixture into 4 small ramekins, let them cool to room temperature, then place them in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours minimum. Then they are ready to serve.

Rosemary Vanilla Bean Poached Peaches:

• 1 Cup Water

• 1 Cup Sugar

• 1 Sprig Fresh Rosemary

• 1 Vanilla Bean Pod

• 2 Fresh Georgia Peaches, peeled and sliced

In a sauce pan combine the water and sugar. Cook on Medium to high heat, stirring till the sugar is dissolved. Once the sugar is cooked into the water bring it down to a simmer and add the rosemary, vanilla bean pod- scrape the seeds out and place the seeds and the pod in the simple syrup, and add the sliced peaches. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Make sure not to boil the peaches or you will end up with a mushy mess, you want pretty poached peaches! Once the peaches are poached you can drain them off and serve or store the peaches in a glass container in the poaching liquid.

To serve the dish, you can keep the panna cotta in the ramekin or run a pairing knife along the edge of the panna cotta and drop it onto a plate. Then drain the peach slices of their poaching liquid and top the panna cotta. For crunch, add toasted and chopped pecans!