- I am at the Mount Pleasant Farmer's Market, and I'm on the hunt for some delicious olive oil.

I'm gonna use it later today for my kitchen adventures.

(upbeat music) I'm Lauren Furey.

"Now, We're Cooking."

(upbeat music continues) (water splashes) (gentle music) (water splashes) Liam, I'm so glad you're here today.

You even escaped the good waves today to come join me in the kitchen.

- It's quite a sacrifice.

Waves are firing right now.

So Lauren, you definitely owe me one, but I am super stoked to be here.

- Everybody knows Liam as the nicest guy, and he always finds a way to make everybody feel good about themselves, which I really admire.

- All right, thank you so much.

- You're welcome so much.

- Oh, god, you just made my whole week.

- Yeah, well, good, and, today, I picked this sweet dessert for you because you're super sweet, and so this is called panna cotta, and so panna cotta is an Italian dessert, which means cooked cream, and so it's made with buttermilk, vanilla, and then a whole lot of seasonings that we're gonna walk you through.

We're gonna top it all off with a shortbread crumble just to add that extra crunch.

You ready to get into this?

- Let's do it.

- Let's do this thing.

All right, so Liam, the first step is to take this sugar and just dump it into the pot.

- The whole thing?

- The whole thing.

- That's surprising you want this much sugar, 'cause you're sweet enough already.

- Oh, thank you.

(chuckles) You got all the puns, huh?

(hand taps) There you go.

- Boom.

- Thank you so much.

We're gonna take this microplane, which you can also call a zester, and we're gonna take the zest off this orange.

Zest has all the essential oils that add the aromatics of the orange that we all know and love.

- Can I give that a shot?

- Of course, yes, here you go.

- So I'm not halfway as talented as Lauren in cooking, but... So bear with me.

- I think he's double.

- If I'm... (laughs) If I do this wrong, please let me know.

- That's perfect, and, now, you see all this orange you have on the bottom?

- You want me to hit that on there?

(zester taps) - Perfect.

- That smells so good.

- So good.

- And zesty.

- So zesty.

(chuckles) We're basically putting our hand into this pot and pinching together the sugar with the orange zest to make the sugar orange.

We wanna really accentuate the orange flavor, and by combining it with the sugar, it'll be more evenly distributed through the panna cotta.

Now, you have orange sugar, and, honestly, you could put it on a margarita rim.

You could dust it on cookies.

You could eat it by the spoonful.

(laughs) - I wish I had this as a car air freshener.

It smells so just fresh and citric.

- I'll start working on that for you.

(laughs) Just keep a panna cotta in your car.

- Keep a panna cotta in the car.

(Lauren laughs) - You kind of have it.

(both laugh) Now, let's show everybody.

That looks so good, Liam.

- [Liam] Boom.

- You're an expert sugar maker.

- Aw, thanks.

- Orange sugar.

(both laugh) Aren't you glad you could show off some skills?

- God, you beat me to it.

(both laugh) - So now, we're gonna add some heavy cream, and so since this is a buttermilk panna cotta, we're actually gonna include both heavy cream and buttermilk because buttermilk is tangy and lighter than cream, and it also adds that southern twang that we love with a Italian fusion.

- Okay.

- All right?

And so Liam, you wanna whisk that up for me real quick?

- Just whisk it up real quick?

- (chuckles) Yeah.

And so after this is done cooking, you can strain the mixture, but I really don't feel like that's a necessary step.

Like I like to taste that orange zest super strongly, and the longer you let this dessert sit in the fridge, the stronger it'll taste.

- And how long do you think we should let it sit in the fridge for?

- At least four hours, and then up to five days.

If you don't eat it all.

- Up to five days?

- Yes.

- All right.

- It tastes best after you let it rest overnight.

Oh, perfect, so that's good.

Let's take this to the stove, and add the buttermilk.

- Let's bring it on over.

- Let's do it.

(water splashes) So now that we've made it back to the stove, we're gonna put our gelatin and water mixture together, which will make our panna cotta nice and creamy and stable once it sits.

You ready for this?

- Now we're jelling.

- Now we're jelling.

So you wanna take this little cup right here and add that to that water.

That's right, and then gently take your... Now, we're cooking the spatula.

- Should I start stirring it up?

- (laughs) Yeah.

(Liam laughs) Look at those waves you're making.

(both laugh) - You're so party.

- Yeah, and so that's awesome.

So you're getting all the sides of that bowl and just get all that gelatin off the sides.

Oh, yeah.

Perfect, and then that is ideal.

- That is wild how like quickly it becomes like not solidified, but it's jelly.

- Right?

It's so jelly.

- So jelly.

- I figured this would be a recipe that you would like.

- [Liam] Look at that thing, what?

- [Lauren] It's like a sandcastle, okay.

- Can I put a face in it?

(Lauren laughs) Oh, totally, I'm gonna make a face in it.

- Whatever makes you happy.

- [Liam] Well, he is about to be a happy little gelatin ball.

- You take that whisk and just gently stir this mixture like every few minutes to make sure that it's evenly heating.

- I'll be very careful, 'cause it's whiskey business, Lauren.

- It's whiskey business.

So we're heating this mixture up now before we add the buttermilk and the rest of the ingredients, because we want the sugar to dissolve with this higher heat in the heavy cream.

We don't want the buttermilk to curdle, and so we just have to let it cool down for a minute before we add the buttermilk, vanilla, orange, and a pinch of salt, but this is coming together so beautifully, Liam.

All the sugar is dissolving, and it's about time to add the gelatin and the rest of our ingredients.

Put this thing together.

Liam, why don't you go head there?

That bottle of buttermilk, just pour it right into the pot.

Oh, yeah.

Ooh, I like that little shape you're making.

- God, that was so satisfying.

(Lauren laughs) - It is a fun recipe, isn't it?

And then we're gonna add this gelatin right there.

- Bye-bye friend.

(Lauren laughs) - And then we're gonna add a pinch of salt.

- Bah!

- Just like that.

(both laugh) And then we'll add that vanilla.

Beautiful.

- It smells good.

- It's like abstract art, Liam, - You're abstract art.

- Oh, my gosh, thank you.

It's a heart attack.

Just the juice of that orange right there.

You're fancy.

(laughs) And then just whisk it right up, your favorite.

(both laugh) - I'll take a whisk on this recipe.

- (laughs) Yeah.

We've got everything in the pot now.

We're gonna bring it over and put it in our ramekins.

- Let's go.

- Let's go.

So we have our panna cotta mixture nice and warm, and look at those orange specs in there.

It's all that orange sugar that's been dissolved, but we still have our orange zest, and just to make our lives easier, we're gonna pour the panna cotta mixture into this liquid measuring cup with the spout so that we can actually fill these up successfully.

- All right.

- All right.

- You trust me?

- I trust you completely.

- Do it this way, ready?

(bowl clinks) (mixture burbles) (bright music) - Wow, you must have done this before.

(both laugh) Yeah.

Thank you so much.

- I love pouring things into other things.

- Well, why don't you do the honors then?

I wanna, yeah, I'm gonna put you to work, Liam Becker.

- Let's go panna cotta.

(bright music continues) - All right, so we're gonna let these go on the fridge for four hours, and we're gonna make our chocolate chip shortbreads, which are made with a little bit of local corn meal, and so let's get these in the fridge, and finish the rest of our recipe.

(water splashes) So Liam.

- Lauren.

- These chocolate chip shortbreads are so chocolatey.

Like I think you will absolutely love these.

- I love chocolate.

I can't wait to taste those.

- So we're gonna first start off by combining our butter, our unsalted butter.

- Okay.

- Into this large bowl, and this is softened butter that's just been sitting out at room temperature because it'll be easy to combine, and then here's a little extra virgin olive oil, because I like to add a Italian flare to recipes whenever I can.

- Of course you do.

- (laughs) Yeah.

And it actually adds a little bit of a spice to it.

All right, and so now, we're gonna add brown sugar.

You can use light brown sugar, dark brown sugar.

Brown sugar is really, fun fact, just sugar with molasses in it.

- That's what makes a brown?

- Yeah.

- No kidding.

- Add this granulated sugar.

- All the sugar?

- All the sugar.

- Even though you are sweet enough already.

(Lauren laughs) - So we're gonna pour a little bit of vanilla extract in there, beautiful.

- Yeah, the vanilla smells so good.

- Right?

That vanilla bean flavor is so strong, and now we're gonna... Liam, if you could please stir this up for me.

- I would be happy to.

- And so how did you get into loving surfing so much?

I've been just thinking about this.

- You know, my grandma and grandpa lived on the water.

They started at seafood restaurants way before I was born.

They started from nothing.

They lived in a trailer across the parking lot.

It was right on the water, and I think being on the water with him and, also, being in the back of the kitchen, helping him clean dishes, like since I was a little kid, kind of gave me a little bit of love for the ocean as well as cooking at the same time.

Moving down to Charleston about almost 16 years ago, gave me the option to go to school and, also, to surf whenever I wanted to.

- [Lauren] Hmm.

- When I was in college, in between classes and in between working, I would go from downtown to Folly beach, catch as many waves as I could, and then go back to class with wet hair, sandy feet, and a salty attitude, 'cause I had to get out of the water.

- So if you tilt the bowl, and then use the back of the spoon to kind of push down the butter, it'll help it more evenly combine with all the sugars.

- Okay.

- And so depending on how soft your butter is is how well it will thoroughly combine, but I've made this recipe a million times and I can tell you, what we have right here is perfect for our shortbreads.

Now, we're gonna add some all purpose flour to thicken our shortbreads up and some local yellow cornmeal, which has a sweetness to it that you must have in these shortbreads, and so now, we're going to mix up the dry with these wet ingredients.

The dry ingredients slowly absorb into the wet ingredients, which is great.

Basically, the wet ingredients are hydrating everything.

There will be a point, Liam, where we can just ditch the spoon and use our hands.

- And... - Can we do it now?

- I think now's the perfect time.

- Can I get in?

- Get in there.

- Let's go.

- Yes, and it's pretty fun, you know?

It's a good stress reliever.

- Yeah.

- After a long day of surfing.

- You are not kidding.

(Lauren laughs) I'm not angry anymore.

(Lauren laughs) - That's all you need, (laughs) and then we're gonna add our mini chocolate chips.

We're gonna make it rain.

(laughs) Yes, and... - How pretty this looks though.

- Oh, that's gorgeous.

I think we should eat some.

There's no raw eggs in it after all.

- That's so good.

Are you kidding me?

So we're done?

(both laugh) - And then we got to bake it.

So now, Liam, we're gonna spread it into our little pan, which I put a little foil on our sheet pan here, and added some olive oil to prevent it from sticking.

Liam, will you help me just pat this out onto the pan?

- Nice and tight down?

- Yeah.

- Gotcha.

- And so now, I'm gonna take this fork and, actually, poke little holes in this dough, because when it bakes, we don't want too many bubbles to form.

We're just gonna add some sugar here just enough so that it coats all the dough in each and every corner, and so the sugar makes a delicious texture on top of the shortbread.

So it also looks very pretty as well.

We're gonna go ahead and bake these at 350 degrees until they're golden brown and smelling so good that your stomaching starts rolling.

- All right, are we going to the oven?

- Let's do it.

(pan thuds) (oven door thuds) (water splashes) - Oh, that looks so good.

- Wow.

- Are you kidding me?

- Oh, yeah, that smells so, so good, and it's so gold and brown, thank you.

Nice and hot.

- I'll take this tin foil off.

I'll be very careful not to burn my fingers.

- [Lauren] Oh, yeah, nice and delicate.

- You ready?

- Ready.

- Oh, that was so easy.

- Voila, you got a clean pan.

You don't even need to wash it, and then we're ready to go.

- Good, 'cause I hate doing dishes.

- Me, too, all right, so now, it's like we're unwrapping a present.

We have this beautiful shortbread.

So now, we're gonna cut up little squares just for us to taste test.

- I was hoping you'd say that.

- [Lauren] You can cut it into whatever size you like.

It makes such a great gift.

- Cheers.

- Cheers.

(upbeat music) - (laughs) Are you kidding me?

- It's clear to me that Liam is my new personal cookie monster, (both laugh) and we're about to crumble some of the shortbread on top of the panna cotta.

- Every day, I'm crumbling.

(both laugh) - So I use these little four-ounce glass jars that hold just the right amount for six people.

Check this out, Liam.

So we're just gonna crumble a little shortbread on top of each one.

- Can I start from this side?

- Absolutely, divide and conquer.

- Every day, I'm crumbling.

(Lauren laughs) - Make it rain.

(both laugh) - I'm making it rain cookie crumble, baby.

- And just for good measure, I wanna jazz things up while you're in the kitchen with me today.

So we're gonna add an extra drizzle of olive oil.

- [Liam] Ooh, okay.

- We're just gonna top each one with a little olive oil.

This is an optional set, but I highly recommend it.

All right, ready to get into it?

- Cheers.

- Cheers.

(laughs) Wow.

- I'm so excited.

- Oh, yeah.

- Let's go.

- Let's go.

- Cheers again.

- Cheers.

(upbeat music continues) Mm.

(spoons clink) Forget about it.

(both laugh) - That is a reminder that life is too good, and you should be grateful for everything.

Lauren, that is delicious.

- Thank you, good work, Liam.

- Folly Beach Police Department is outside, and I think you're under arrest, because you just killed this recipe.

(Lauren laughs) I'm having another bite.

- I think it tastes extra good, 'cause you're here right now, and I think I'm about ready to just enjoy this outside by the beach.

Maybe catch a few waves.

They look pretty fun out there.

- Ready to paddle out when you are.

- Mm.

I'm Lauren, and this is Liam.

Thank you so much for watching "Now We're Cooking."

(upbeat music continues) (water splashes) (upbeat music continues)