A&M: This recipe is the perfect thing for anyone who may be fearful of making custard but harbors a weakness—as we do—for this sort of milky, comforting, nursery food. “In Ye Olde English days of yore,” mrslarkin explained, “it was a milk drink thickened with wine. My posset recipe is so simple, as they all are, really. Using just three ingredients, it seems almost magical, setting up immediately. The wonders of food science in front of your very eyes. Curdled milk never tasted so good.” In flavor, this posset is like a creamier, less aggressive version of lemon curd, and it’s rich enough that a small amount goes a long way. Do be careful that the cream doesn’t boil over—we watched it like a hawk, but it still managed to catch us by surprise!
2 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
5 tablespoons lemon juice
Unsweetened whipped cream or shortbread cookies, for serving
- In a small saucepan, heat the cream and sugar to boiling, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Continue boiling for 5 minutes. Watch the heat—don’t let the cream boil over.
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Let cool, about 15 minutes.
- Pour even amounts into 4 ramekins. Refrigerate until set, at least 2 hours.
- Serve with unsweetened whipped cream or shortbread cookies to dunk.
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
Use the best-quality cream you can find—if you have access to cream straight from a farm, this is the moment to buy it!
ABOUT THE COOK
Liz Larkin, aka the Pound Ridge Scone Lady, is a baker living in Pound Ridge, New York.
Her favorite recipe from a cookbook: “Hungarian Shortbread in Cooking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan.”
Her favorite cooking tip: “When making scones or biscuits, make the dough ahead, form the dough and cut into wedges or rounds, and freeze on a cookie sheet until solid. Place in freezer zipper bags. Then, you can bake as many or as few as needed at a moment’s notice.”
See her recipe for Chewy Sugar Cookies #2, which heroically represented Food52 in our smackdown with Cook’s Illustrated.
WHAT THE COMMUNITY SAID
jhagye: “This is one of my favorite go-to desserts. I serve it in stemmed crystal wineglasses with a dab of whipped cream and a few berries and mint. Looks as elegant as it tastes.”
gabrielaskitchen: “This lemon posset is stand-alone delicious but also so versatile! I baked some lemon cupcakes, cut a little well out of the middle of each baked cake, filled them with the chilled posset, and then topped each one with lightly sweetened whipped cream and a berry. They were sooooooo good!”