These might just be the prettiest pudding you ever make. Lovely little lemon possets served in bowls made of lemon, what could be lovelier than that?
Lemon posset is quite possibly my favourite pudding. I don’t like to play favourites with my puddings but the beautiful simplicity of the posset does wonders for pushing it up the rankings. It tastes so silky and smooth, in fact it’s so smooth talking, the posset could give George Clooney a run for his money. Served in these scooped out lemons with a hidden dollop of lemon curd in the middle helps to turn these possets from starlettes to Supernovas.
Whilst there is no hiding the fact that these possets are not the healthiest of puddings, they are a fabulous treat. Everything in moderation is the key, so as long as you aren’t gobbling possets everyday of the week, you will be just fine! They make a great pudding for a party because you can make them the day before and then just whip them out of the fridge to rapturous applause. The lemon cups sound a little fiddly but they really don’t take very long and they just make the possets so spectacular, they really are worth it!
This recipe will be to make 6 lemon possets, but you will have extra lemon curd…not that that can ever be a bad thing.
First things first, whip up some lemon curd. You only need a little for the lemons but it’s gorgeous spread on toast or dolloped on a scone or scooped with a spoon, so make a batch and pop it in a pot and you can keep it in the fridge for when you need a lemony kiss. They also make the most amazing presents, so if you are into wooing some friends, get lemon curding.
- 4 large lemons, juice and zest
- 4 large eggs
- 350g caster sugar
- 225g unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into cubes
- 1 level dessertspoon cornflour
- And so, to begin, lightly whisk the eggs in a medium-sized saucepan, then throw in the rest of the ingredients and place the saucepan over a medium heat. It will not look good at this point...
- But don't panic and whisk continuously using a balloon whisk until the mixture thickens. To begin with, it will feel like nothing is happening, but have patience mon cherie, it will thicken, it just needs time. About 8 minutes to be precise. It will continue to thicken deliciously as it cools.
- Then remove it from the heat. Pour the lemon curd into sterilised jars, filling them as full as possible, cover straightaway with waxed discs. It will keep like this for several weeks in the fridge. Heaven in a jar.
- Now, whilst your curd is cooling. You can prepare your lemons.
Now, whilst your curd is cooling. You can prepare your lemons.
Lemon cups
Choose the most beautiful lemons you can, preferably Meyer lemons which still have their leaves on. But failing that, just pick the largest and friendliest looking lemons you can find. I personally love the slightly knarly and overtly chubby looking lemons, but each to their own.
Line a baking tray which is big enough to hold all the lemons, with baking parchment and set to one side.
Now, slice the tip end of the lemon so that it can stand upright and level on its own. It’s okay if in doing this you create a whole at the bottom, we will deal with that in a minute.
Now slice off the the stem end about 1/3 of the way down, as if you are creating a little hat for the lemon…if you know what I mean. That is, if lemons wore hats. Keep these little hats in a safe place. You will need them later.
Repeat this with all the lemons.
Now, place a sieve over a bowl and scoop out the flesh of each lemon over the sieve, giving the pulp a good squeeze so that you get all of the delicious juice. I found the easiest way to do this was to run a knife around the inside of the lemons to loosen the flesh a little and then to use a spoon to scoop it out.
Once you’ve done that, if you have any lemons which have holes in the bottom, just take a piece of tin foil and wrap it round their bottoms. A bit like swaddling a baby. Once the posset is in there and it has set you can unwrap the foil and it will be perfect!
Now, arrange your lemons on the baking tray and you are ready to make your lemon possets. You can find the recipe here. Just don’t go juicing any more lemons, make sure you use the juice from those lemons you scooped out. The extra juice is simply delicious mixed with ice cold water and fresh mint.
Once the posset is made, fill the lemons 1/3 full of the lemony liquid and pop the lemons in the fridge to chill. After about 30 mins they should be set and then you can spoon in about 2 teaspoons of lemon curd and then top up with the lemon posset. Pop in the fridge to chill.
If you have left over lemon posset, pour it into a lined baking tray and pop this in the fridge.
To serve, unwrap the lemons (if required) and place a lemon on a plate, along with one of the lemon hats. Pop a teaspoon of lemon curd on the side of the plate and slice a square of posset alongside too. Stick a sprig of mint in the top and dust with icing sugar. Ta dah!
Pure pure loveliness.
These lemon bowls are such a great way to serve pudding, next on my list is to fill them with a tangy lemon sorbet, how gorgeous would that be?
Have a lovely weekend everyone!
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