Orange-Vanilla Posset

Or the easiest dessert you'll ever make.

In last week’s Friday Food Finds edition I mentioned the cookbook Indulge: 100 Perfect Desserts by Claire Clark. I got this book when I was living and working in England pursuing my love of cooking and baking. Feeling homesick for homemade baked goods like chocolate chip cookies and brownies — which I just didn’t have the resources to make at the time — I took comfort in the American recipes from the book. But the classic British desserts appealed to me too. I learned about the history of the Battenburg Cake, the components of the Bakewell Tart, and the amazing simplicity of the Lemon Posset.

The posset is a silky, creamy, pudding-like dessert that can be made from just three ingredients: cream, sugar, and the juice of any citrus fruit. While lemon is certainly the most traditional flavor for a posset, variations with the other citrus fruits are not uncommon.

When I started thinking about creating a recipe for a posset, I wanted it to be a little different. I love the classic lemon version, but I couldn’t help but wonder about other flavor combinations. Orange felt accessible, but I wanted to jazz it up somehow. That’s when I remembered a flavoring that King Arthur sells called, Fiori di Sicilia. Its unique citrus-vanilla flavor profile seemed perfectly suited for a posset. So I set to work on this:

Orange-Vanilla Posset

So simple, and yet as sublimely creamy as the silkiest of puddings, these individual possets are a bright, zesty pick-me-up for the end of winter. Their tangy, rich orange-vanilla flavor will evoke memories — for those of us who were/are fond of them — of the childhood (and adulthood) favorite, the Creamsicle®. For anyone who hasn’t tried that particular frozen novelty, these possets are perhaps as far as you need to venture for a taste of nostalgia and comfort.

There is little that can go wrong when making a posset. In fact, just adding citrus juice to sweetened cream will get you most of the way to a great dessert. I did find in the research and testing of this version however, that there are tricks to achieving a truly spoon-worthy, incredibly flavorful posset:

— Boil the cream, sugar, and infusing flavors together for a good 10 minutes to reduce and concentrate the cream for a firmer set.
— Scrape the sides of your saucepan periodically as you’re cooking the cream. There’s a lot of really great, concentrated flavor that builds up along those sides!
— Add a small proportion of lemon juice to help boost and round out the flavor of a posset made with citrus that is more sweet and less tart than lemons, like oranges. There’s a reason why the traditional lemon posset is so well loved: its sweet-tart flavors are intense! 
— Allow the skin to form on top of the cream-citrus mixture before straining and refrigerating to prevent a skin from forming on top of the posset once it has been portioned.
— Find more details on the science behind the posset in this Cook's Illustrated article by Anne Petito.

Active Time: 20 minutes
Inactive Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 50 minutes
Yield: four 4 to 6-ounce servings

- 1 pint (470g) heavy cream
- 1/2 cup (99g) granulated sugar
- zest of 1 orange
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste, "Crush", or extract
- 1/3 cup (76g) freshly squeezed orange juice (from the orange you zested)
- 2 tablespoons (28g) freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Add the cream, sugar, orange zest, and vanilla to a medium saucepan. Place the saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly at first until the sugar dissolves fully. 
2. Moderate the heat, if necessary, so that the cream is boiling steadily but not vigorously (to the point of boiling over). Cook, stirring regularly, until the cream has reduced to about 2 cups and turned pale yellow in color, about 10 minutes. 
3. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the orange and lemon juice. Set aside until lukewarm and a skin has formed on the cream's surface, about 30 minutes.
4. Pour the cream through a fine-mesh strainer into a large measuring cup or bowl (with a spout, preferably) then pour it into four 6 to 8-ounce jars, glasses, bowls, ramekins, or other individual serving vessels.
5. Refrigerate the possets until set, about 2 hours.
6. Serve chilled as is or garnish with streusel, berries, or granola for a little flavor and texture contrast. Shortbread is also a lovely side.

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I hope you come to love the posset as much as I do. There is truly no simpler dessert to throw together for an impromptu occasion. Let me know what you think and please share the recipe with anyone you think might enjoy this dessert too!

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I’ve met a few writers in a series of workshops this newsletter platform, Substack, has sponsored. Because I’ve enjoyed their writing, I think you will too, so please check them out!

• Victoria de la Maza writes Diary of a Serial Hostess, a weekly column about the ins and outs of entertaining at home and witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane. 

• Gus Clemens writes Gus Clemens on Wine, a daily column about… you guessed it! Wine! Wines, humor, nationally syndicated wine column, photographs, and podcasts. Take a look at his archives and read about your favorite wines. 

• Leigh Olson writes As We Eat, a multi-platform storytelling project exploring how food connects, defines, and inspires. As she travels around the US with her partner in their caravan, they explore food and share thoughts through newsletters, websites, and podcasts.

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