Thursday, February 1, 2024

Weekly Cooking Report February 1: Lemon Possets

My wife recommended this one as something dead simple and incredibly delicious, so order a pizza or make some pasta with a canned sauce for the main meal and then amaze your family when you whip these out for dessert. 



The recipe for this one comes from Cooks Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen so I can't link you to their article due to paywalls and stuff. That being said, I have gotten lots and lots of great stuff from CI over the last 13 years. 

When I say dirt simple I'm not kidding. One Pint (that's two cups, or one of the smaller cardboard containers) of heavy cream, 2/3rds cup of granulated sugar, and 2-3 lemons based on their size. That's it. 

First up, zest the lemons to get a tablespoon of lemon zest...it'll take 2 small lemons or one big one, more like than not. Then squeeze the lemons to get 6 tablespoons of juice. for me that was 2.5 small lemons. Amounts may vary. Set the lemon juice aside, you don't need it yet. 

Pour the heavy cream into a medium saucepan, then add the sugar and the lemon zest. Set the heat to medium and bring it to a boil. THIS CAN TAKE A WHILE. The heavy cream was in the fridge at 35F a few minutes ago, and you don't want to risk scalding it. Stir it every few minutes to help the sugar dissolve. Once it come to a boil, let it boil for 10 minutes. If it starts to boil over briefly remove it from heat. 

After a 10 minute boil, take it off heat and stir in the lemon juice. Let it sit for 20 minutes. then pour it through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl (or, ideally a glass 2 cup measuring cup with a bit of a lip). This gets all the zest out of it now that you've extracted its lemony goodness. You should have about 2 cups, give or take of liquid. 

Split the mixture into however many servings you want. The recipe says 6, but if you want 4 bigger servings I'm not there to stop you. Refrigerate uncovered for 3 hours and serve to a grateful family. 

(Or wrap with plastic wrap and they keep for 2 days. If you want to be extra fancy add some raspberries or blueberries to the top when you serve, but it ain't hardly necessary.) 

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