Week 18: Lemon Posset

Lemon Posset with fresh fruit and shortbread

Unsure of what dessert to prepare for Damian and Pry when they were visiting this summer, I turned to my handy Master Chef Everyday cookbook to see what I could pair up with whatever it was we ate for main. Can’t remember the main as it was over a month ago and there was lots of wine drunk. However, what I do remember is that this lemon posset worked a treat and amazingly easy to make as well. A fantastic summer dessert, especially when topped with summer berries! I was going to make the short bread but didn’t in the end. Time ran out. Although not needed, it would add a nice crunch contrast to the silky smooth posset – shop bought works too!. Easily serves four (no pics for this one - I ate it too soon!)

For the posset	For the shortbread
750ml double cream	200g unsalted butter, softened
200g caster sugar	60g icing sugar
Juice of 3 lemons	1 tsp vanilla extract
250g fresh fruit	200g plain flour
	½ tsp salt
	150g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces

1. For the posset, put the cream and sugar into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 6 minutes, then remove from the heat Then whisk in the lemon juice and leave to cool. Now do be careful with the simmering – don’t take your eye of the pan for a moment. The time between it bubbling nicely and it overflowing the pan all over the hob is about half a second. As you might be able to tell, this happened to me and I for one was surprised how much cream and sugar mixture can overflow onto a hob in the space of half a second. I reckon there’s still some of the mixture burnt under the gas ring!

2. Once cooled, divide the mixture into four serving glasses. Put into the fridge for at least two hours to set.

3. Meanwhile, make the shortbread. Using an electric whisk, mix the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, then stir in the vanilla extract. Sift in the flour and salt in the mixture and combine.

4. Wrap the biscuit dough in cling film and shill in the fridge for an hour. Once chilled, roll onto a lightly floured surface or onto fresh cling film (with cling film over the top to stop it sticking to the rolling pin – *top tip) to a thickness of 5mm. Cut out into shapes as desired. Transfer to a non-stick baking tray, and chill for 30 minutes. Now preheat the oven to 180⁰C while they’re chilling.

5. Bake the shortbread for 8-10 minutes until golden then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

6. Put chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until the chocolate has melted. Pipe the chocolate over the biscuits (little stripes in a zig-zag pattern?) and leave to set.

7. When ready to serve, top the possets with the fruit and serve with the shortbread biscuits.

Today’s learning: Possets are incredibly simple and tasty. Make them.

Recipe adapted from: Master Chef Everyday