Make a Simple Lemon Posset with 3 Ingredients
Make a simple lemon posset with only three ingredients; how is that possible? Madeline was home over the fourth of July and made it, and it was so good I wanted to make it for a little dinner party on the patio. It’s the perfect ending to a summer meal. It’s full of lemon flavor and tastes light, although it’s mostly heavy cream…sooooo, there’s that.
So, what is a posset?
A posset is a cold dessert made from thickened cream. It’s usually flavored with lemon. According to Merriam-Webster, the history of posset is a hot drink of sweetened and spiced milk curdled with wine. I can’t imagine curdled milk mixed with wine but lemon; that’s another story.
What is the difference between panna cotta and posset?
Panna cotta or American pudding recipes rely on cooking the cream and adding gelatin or flour to thicken the cream.
What thickens the lemon posset?
A posset allows the acid to do the work, although I can’t explain the science behind that process. But somehow it works. However, measuring the ingredients is crucial to get the right consistency.
The 3 Ingredients You Will Need to Make a Lemon Posset
- Lemons (obviously)
- Superfine sugar (or regular sugar that you blend in a food processor)
- Heavy whipping cream
Special Equipment Needed for this Recipe
- Two saucepans
- Zester
- Blender or food processor (or you could buy superfine sugar)
- Ramekins or small cups
- A fine Mesh strainer
What we love about this lemon dessert and how to serve it
Nasturtium Flowers, Leaves, and Fresh Mint
We love a dessert that can be made ahead. It makes entertaining much more fun when you have the dessert made and cleaned up the day before a dinner party. The hands-on part of making this dessert is only about 10 minutes, including cleaning up!
It can be served in ramekins, cups, or right in the hollowed-out lemon. If you feel it needs more than just the posset, a couple of shortbread cookies would be perfect!
I added nasturtium flowers and leaves to add color and served on small vintage plates.
Make a Simple Lemon Posset with 3 Ingredients
Lemon Posset is the perfect combination of creamy, tart, and sweet. It’s a surprisingly fresh and light dessert (although technically, there is really nothing light about it) that’s ideal for serving on warm summer nights. But it’s so good I could envision eating it on any given night throughout the year.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 7 1x
Ingredients
- 2–4 Lemons (depending on if you are using them to serve inside the lemons)
- 2/3 cup superfine sugar (I processed regular sugar in a small blender)
- 2 cups heavy cream
- Garnishes (you can serve plain, with a dusting of powdered sugar, edible flowers, or raspberries)
Instructions
- Gather your ingredients.
- Using a fine grater, zest both lemons. Cut the lemons in half, juice all four halves of the lemons, and remove any seeds. You should have approximately 1/2 cup of juice.
- If serving the posset in the lemons, remove all the fruit from each half of the lemons and discard, saving only the lemon cups.
- Pour the lemon juice into a small saucepan, add the lemon zest and superfine sugar, and stir until combined. Slowly bring the mixture to a very gentle simmer and cook for approximately 4 minutes until all the sugar has dissolved and the mixture becomes a little syrupy. Set it aside to cool.
- Pour the cream into a medium-sized saucepan. Bring the cream to a gentle boil and adjust the heat to low. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Make sure to cook the cream slowly. It will spoil the cream if you’re impatient and try to boil it quickly.
- Slowly pour and whisk the lemon syrup into the hot cream using the same saucepan. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a measuring cup. Let it cool slightly.
- If serving the posset in the lemon cups: pour the mixture into each lemon half.
- If serving the posset in ramekins: pour the mixture into the small ramekins.
- Place lemon cups or ramekins on a small tray or platter and bring them to room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. They can be refrigerated overnight.
- To serve, remove from the refrigerator and let sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.
- Garnish the posset with berries, edible flowers, or a dusting of powdered sugar, and serve with small spoons.
Annie, congratulations on winning the Cottages & Bungalows contest! What an accomplishment! I love their content and you winning is so deserving. Never heard of a posset but it looks delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Mary!
Thank you so much! I was thrilled!
xo
Hi Annie,
Thank you for the lovely post. Beautiful recipe l am going to try it this week. Congratulations on winning the contest so thrilled for you!! Glad to hear as l voted for you so that makes me very happy .
Have a lovely week,
Francesca
Francesca!
Thank you so much for voting! That means so much! Hope you’re having a great week!
xx
I enjoy your blog and the Lemon Posset recipe looked lovely, but when I tried to print it, advertisements blocked out part of the recipe.
Is there a way to have a print version of a recipe with no ads?
Thank you.
Hi Susan!
I am so sorry that the amounts were missing in the recipe card! I meant to go back and addd them and forgot! I have updated it now! Thank you for taking the time to let me know!
I think to print the recipe without ads (I know….so annoying), it’s a setting when you go to print, you select options in the recipe card – This box is to the right of print. Then you can unclick the things you don’t want to print. Like images….etc.
Hope this helps!
annie
Hi, I’m new to your blog, so not sure if the recipe format is the usual? There are no amounts given for the ingredients. I’d like to make this as it sounds interesting. Help!
Hi! I am so sorry that the amounts were missing in the recipe card! I meant to go back and addd them and forgot! I have updated it now! Thank you for taking the time to let me know! Sorry this was not a good first experience coming to my blog!
Annie
The lemon Posset looks delicious….I can’t seem to find how much heavy cream to use in the recipe. Could you please that information?
Thank you,
Judy Maness
Judy! I apologize! I updated the post with the amounts! I meant to go back and add those and forgot! Thank you so much for taking the time to alert me!
OMG that lemon number yum!! I love anything lemon…and those beautiful dahlias to die for!!
Annie! Congrats again on your C&B win … so well deserved. Your house is the sweetest … and I can’t wait to see the feature. So glad you explained the posset because it’s totally new to me. And looks amazing. And the presentation. Wow!!! xo
The lemon posset looks delicious and I would like to make it but how much cream is used? I don’t see it in the recipe. One cup, two cups? Thanks.
Cindylou! Thank you for commenting and letting me know that I forgot to add the amounts! I’m sorry about that! I’ve updated the post!