I've seen you eat a lemon posset...

Welcome back!

Last week, the New York Times posted that it was officially rhubarb season and I was SO EXCITED. Like, caffeine pills on Saved By The Bell I'm so excited excited. Because there is a thing I have been dying to make and just waiting until I could get some rhubarb to do it:

"It was exquisitely simple- this little white ramekin full of sunshine-yellow cream, topped by a pile of pinkish spirals." 

This lovely description comes from Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall. Which I'm writing about even though I told myself I'd hold off on another post inspired by an Alexis Hall book, because I'm absolutely planning to bake roughly eight ga-gillian recipes from Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake when it comes out and I do read and love and plan to make things from other authors' books.

But I can't help it. 

It's rhubarb season.

And Boyfriend Material is hands down the best romantic comedy I have ever read. It is romantic. It is comedic. Luc and Oliver are adorable. Their friends are fabulous. Their families are... well, families, with all sorts of complications to help make the book well-rounded. And honestly, who was I kidding thinking I could go more than a week without talking about Boyfriend Material? It was a futile goal. I have many many things to say about Boyfriend Material, but there are also many many more recipes I plan to make from it so, for now, I'll just say that it is practically perfect in every way.

As is this lemon posset. 


I'd never had a lemon posset before. I'd never even heard of a lemon posset before. It is unbelievably simple and delicious and I am so glad to have learned it exists. Just one more reason to love Boyfriend Material. 

There also exists a Boyfriend Material companion cookbook/workbook thingy I found on the author's Instagram which contains a very cute recipe for a lemon posset titled, "I'm not a fan of desserts. But I hope you'll like this one." I of course tried that recipe first, which I of course topped with shaved rhubarb. And it was lovely. You can absolutely use that recipe. But there were some things I thought I'd like to try doing differently, so I played around with it a bit, and a bit more, and a bit more, and what I ended up liking best is as follows:

Ingredients: 

  • 16 oz heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • The peel of three lemons
  • 5 tbs lemon juice (NOTE: the juice of three lemons will leave you with more than 5 tbs lemon juice. I suggest making a cocktail or a vinaigrette with the remainder.)
  • A stalk of rhubarb

Peel the lemons, avoiding the pith. I used a veggie peeler rather than zesting to make it easier on myself later, and it worked perfectly. Juice the lemons, set it aside. 

Place the cream and sugar in a medium to medium-large pot (it will boil up, so significantly larger than the ingredients going into it) over medium-high heat, and stir until the sugar dissolves. Let the mixture come to a boil and boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. This is important, or it will not have the lovely smooth texture it should.

When the timer goes, add in the lemon peel to the boiling mixture then remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice. Let sit for 10 minutes. 

After 10 minutes, stir again, remove lemon peel, and pour into ramekins, mini jars, or whatever other containers you choose to serve in. I didn't have tiny ramekins so I used little tiny ball jars, which are perfect for distributing to friends and family so you don't eat three recipes' worth of lemon possets yourself. Each recipe made six of these little ball jars. 

Chill for at least an hour, ideally several, or overnight.

Using a veggie peeler, strip the rhubarb into fine ribbons. Slice them up to be tiny ribbons. The first time I tried this I used big long ribbons and they were prettier, but much harder to eat. 


Twirl the tiny ribbons to be all pretty and spirally and pile them over the possets.


Take a picture. Be sure to include your hand-painted Boyfriend Material lemon posset coaster in the background, which says, "He was eyeing the lemon posset the way I've always wanted someone to look at me." (If you don't have one, make one! What? You don't make fanart coasters in your spare time? That's not something normal people do? Oh well, your loss.)

Once fully chilled, eat a spoonful and enjoy the way a taste of lemon posset will make your whole face go dreamy with bliss. In the alternative, you could violently plunge your spoon into the pudding and shovel it into your mouth as though it were your mortal enemy. How you choose to enjoy your lemon posset says much about your character. (There is also a quiz in the workbook to tell you whether your are an Oliver or a Luc, but apparently I'm Alex Fucking Twaddle* so I'm I prefer this how-do-you-eat-a-lemon-posset test, myself.)


*This is not hate for for Alex Twaddle. I have nothing but love for Alex Twaddle (of the Devonshire Twaddles!). It's just that as a fairly idealistic public servant with a law degree and nothing that could remotely resemble ties to any kind of aristocracy, I like to think I'm more of an Oliver. 

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