Lemon Possets

     I have a friend who recently visited some family in California. His family has a ton of citrus trees and he likes to bring back a bunch of tasty things every year. However, this year he took home too much! Luckily, he follows me on the socials so he has seen me bake and knows I like to try new things. So he thought it would be fun to see what I can do with some lemons, oranges, and grapefruit! Trading the promise of lemon flavored goodies, we had a handoff in church and I got going developing some recipes. The first thing I came up with (and probably the simplest) was a lemon posset! 

    An English posset was traditionally hot milk infused with some kind of wine or other alcohol. It was used as both a dessert and a medicinal as needed. Today, however, posset is a refrigerated pudding-like sweet cream. It is so good and the process of making it makes it extremely easy to infuse it with a multitude of flavors. Citrus is an especially popular flavor for posset. You can use orange, grapefruit, but my favorite is lemon!

`The process of making a posset is actually very simple. All you have to do is heat cream, add sweetener, and refrigerate! To flavor it you just simmer your cream with some kind of flavoring in it. I started my lemon posset by cutting two lemons in half and scraping out all of the pulp. I made sure to leave plenty of pith on my lemon skins so that they would not leak when I fill it with my cream. After, I poured my heavy cream into a pot and warm it over medium-low heat. Once my cream was steaming but not quite bubbling, I added my sugar and used a whisk to mix it until it was dissolved. 

    Next, I brought my cream to a light simmer and added my fresh lemon juice and lemon zest. I zest from a separate lemon from the ones I am using for juice and the skins. I was a little nervous about the skins leaking. However, when the posset was eaten I made sure to use every last bit of the leftover skins. 

    I continued to whisk my cream mixture for about five minutes while maintaining a light simmer. You have to be very careful not to burn your cream so ensure you don't get your mixture too hot and you don't stop whisking for very long. When the cream thickened up a bit, I poured it through a strainer and into my lemon peel halves. If you are unsure your cream is thick enough, try dipping a metal spoon into the cream and if the back is coated then its ready!

    I then took my unset possets and put them in the fridge for at least 4 hours. You can eat them when they are totally set. You can tell they are set if you wiggle them and the top does not move at all. If the top moves you either didn't thicken your cream enough or you need to leave the possets in the fridge for a while longer. I like to leave them overnight just to make sure they're as set as possible. 

    You can serve your possets with a garnish of mint and candied lemon peel, a dusting of caramelized sugar for a creme brûlée effect, or just by itself! Lemon possets are so creamy and tasty with that little kick of citrus that is just so perfectly balanced. 

    How did this recipe work for you? Leave me a comment!