Lemon Posset is a silky smooth creamy British dessert made from only 3 ingredients. Perfect to serve at gatherings in individual servings.
What is a posset?
Posset is a traditional British dessert, that lately has become an international popular attraction. Originally, possets have been consumed in Britain as a hot drink to help cure colds, made from sweet curdled milk that is mixed with either ale or wine. However, over the 600 years of its existence, there have been some changes to the recipe. Nowadays, posset is a chilled thick dessert made from only three ingredients; heavy cream, sugar and lemons. Unlike other popular pudding recipes, posset doesn’t contain any additional thickening agents such as gelatine, cornstarch or eggs.
In fact, even though similar looking, do not confuse posset with panna cotta. For the panna cotta you need to use gelatine so that it thickens, however posset thickens thanks to the acid from the citrus. The cream and the citrus acid work their magic together while they chill in the fridge, by creating a luscious smooth creamy dessert.
Lemon Posset Ingredients
- Heavy Whipping Cream: Full fat heavy whipping cream (double cream) will give the dessert a luscious texture.
- Lemon Juice: The crucial ingredient which will give the posset its texture. Can be substituted with other citrus.
- Lemon Zest: This adds a deeper intense flavour of lemon.
- Sugar: White sugar is the best to use as it gives a sweet touch to the dessert while balancing the tart acidic flavour of lemons, without altering the colour and texture, like brown sugar.
How to make these Lemon Posset
How can 3 ingredients form a delicate dessert? It might sound intimidating, but don’t be! If you follow the steps correctly, and let the portioned posset rest to chill in the fridge for a good amount of time you will get a delicious success. In a saucepan add the sugar, heavy whipping cream and lemon zest and mix. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer. Staying close by and stirring frequently so that it doesn’t burn, let it simmer for about 10 minutes. During this time, the sugar will dissolve and the mixture will start to thicken slightly.
Remove the saucepan from the heat, immediately add the lemon juice and stir. I recommend to put the lemon juice at this stage so to avoid that the acid reacts with the stainless steel saucepan which might give a metallic taste to the dessert. Let the mixture rest at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer if you would like to remove the lemon zest for a smoother posset. Pour the mixture in your selected individual servings containers. Place them in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight. Alternatively, you can also place in the freezer. Garnish the lemon posset and serve.
How to serve Posset
In these photos, you can see, that I have served my lemon posset in halved emptied lemons. I especially love how cute and fresh serving the posset looks this way. However, note that by serving them this way, I used 3 more lemons than needed, and I have collected extra juice which I didn’t end up using for this specific recipe. Although I saved it all up and froze it in an ice mould for future recipes. You can easily serve the posset in individual serving cups such as short glasses, martini glasses, shot glasses or small plastic dessert cups. Finish serving them with mini teaspoons!
For garnish, as I served mine in halved lemons, I decided to keep things simple and only add a tiny leaf of fresh mint. Berries, such as blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, work magnificently well with the lemon posset, so you can add a couple of fresh berries on top as well. Other garnishes that work well are crumbled biscuits (underneath or on top), crushed nuts, whipped cream or even small pieces of lemon and lemon zest.
FAQs
Do I have to serve these lemon posset in lemons?
No! This is only an option, you can use any small dessert cup to serve the lemon posset. It’s only essential to serve them in individual servings, but you can choose any vessel you prefer.
How to store any leftover possets?
Store any lemon posset in the fridge covered with clingfilm or a lid. If keeping in the fridge they can easily last up to 4 days. Although, you can also freeze them for longer, up to 3 months. You can either let them thaw slightly before serving or else enjoy them straight from frozen with an ice cream like texture.
Can I make other flavoured Possets?
Most definitely! It’s only essential to keep an acidic fruit so that it thickens the cream. You can make posset with oranges, limes and any other citrus fruit. You can make a single flavoured posset or else combine different ones together.
Lemon Posset
Ingredients
- 500 ml heavy whipping cream
- 150 g castor white sugar
- zest of two lemons
- 80 ml lemon juice
Instructions
- If serving in lemons, cut the lemon half way through and remove the flesh with a spoon. Chop roughly the lemon flesh and place in a fine-mesh strainer, and squeeze the juice out with a spoon.*
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the heavy whipping cream, sugar and lemon zest.
- Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer, stirring frequently let it simmer for about 10 minutes until the sugar dissolves and starts to thicken.
- Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice and let it rest for about 15 minutes.
- Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer and discard the zest. However, you can skip this step if you want to keep the zest in the mixture.
- Pour the mixture into your halved cleaned lemons or in individual serving containers of your choice.
- Place in the fridge for at least 2/3 hours or in the freezer. You can also store them overnight in the fridge. Before serving garnish as desired.
Notes
If you have any questions, feedback or comments on this recipe, please leave a comment below. Please also rate this recipe by double clicking on the stars below. If you did make this recipe, tag @apronandwhisk and hashtag #apronandwhisk, as I’m curious to see what you create!
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