Sunday, February 22, 2015

Lemon Posset Shortcakes


I loved these little gems. although I do have a tiny bone to pick with the idea of including these in the Quick and Easy list.  Here are the reasons:  1)  "Cool completely."  2)  "Allow the syrup 2 hours to distribute into the cake before applying the apple glaze."  3)  "Let the glaze set for 30 minutes before filling the cakes."  4)  "Refrigerate [the posset] 3 to 4 hours before filling the shortcakes."  5) "Refrigerate the partially filled shortcakes for 1 hour..." 6)  "Refrigerate the shortcakes ... for at least 2 hours to set."  I was planning a rather spartan dinner because of the possets we were having for dessert, so we were going to have them for dessert.  That means I cheated a bit (considerably) on some of those wait times.  Other than the fact that I should have started making these in the a.m. iinstead of the p.m., I have no complaints.


My balloon whisk got a workout in this recipe.  It's at the ready!


Browning the butter.  This task takes a certain bravery because it immediately goes from the perfect point of brownness to being burnt, so I usually don't play chicken.  I step back before it's perfectly brown, which just means it's imperfectly brown.


This was always my favorite shot in Heavenly Cake Bakers--when the egg yolks turned into this thick, rich batter.  I still love it.


I was absolutely sure that I had another canister of Wondra flour in my pantry, but either I didn't or someone stole it.  (That seems unlikely, doesn't it?)  I was only about 15 grams short, so I decided not to mess with the cornstarch--I just added 15 grams of cake flour, and had no trouble mixing it in, so I felt like my luck was running on high.


It didn't seem like there was much batter to go into each pan, so I hoped they would rise.


And they did!  These cakes always remind me of Twinkies, which was my favorite treat when I was about 10 years old.  Rose's shortcakes probably don't have the shelf life of Twinkies, which apparently are no longer made.  Maybe if the world as we know it ends, all that will be left are cockroaches and packaged Twinkies.


I think it was genius to use Meyer lemons in the posset.  In fact, there was an article in the Guardian about how to make a perfect lemon posset, and several people wrote comments suggesting that orange possets were better than lemon.  The particular Meyer lemons that I picked up were very mild--more toward an orange set of flavors than very tart and lemony, and I think the final dessert could have been just hint more tart.  If I'd tasted it first, I would have added a very small amount of non-Meyer lemon juice.  Still, I think with the creamy, delicate posset, too mellow is better than too sharp.


I was surprised to hear that people were having trouble finding apple jelly, which I would have guessed was the most boring and most obtainable jelly of them all.  I bought a bigger jar of Smucker's apple jelly than I wanted, because I probably won't use it for anything else besides this.  Its bland sweetness proved to be a good foil, though.


And it makes the shortcakes so pretty and shiny!  I had to read the instructions for filling the shortcakes two or three times.  Initially, it sounded complicated, but I finally realized they were just saying to skim off the thick part of the posset first and then let the rest firm up.  I emptied the posset into two soup bowls, and it thickened readily. 


I didn't let it thicken enough before I added the rest--you can see the dribbles down the side.  You can also see that the decorative strips of lemon rind didn't turn out as decoratively as they might.  In my head, they looked beautiful.  In reality, the best I can say for them is that they'd be great if I were trying to do hieroglyphics or some kind of code.  Could I convince you that the lemon rind says "Eat me" in ancient Assyrian?  

20 comments:

  1. Awesome post. Twinkles came to mind immediately. I think a Twinkie post will be coming soon.

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  2. Twinkies are still sold in Canada, so either they're still making them somewhere, or someone's slowly emptying out their stash. ;)

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  3. Glori,
    I can't wait!

    Kristina,
    You're right. They were being manufactured and sold in Canada even when they weren't in the U.S. But apparently they're back on U.S. shelves too. I don't know how I missed that news headline!

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  4. Ha i love the hieroglyphics. I also erred on the side of not burnt with the butter.

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  5. LOL! I love your ancient writing of lemon. I too can't wait to try them..:)

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  6. I thought they tasted like Twinkies, too! Your genoise shells turned out perfectly. Is that a Nordic Ware pan? Love Meyer lemons!

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  7. Dribbles and all, they are scrumptious looking. I only made the creamy part, but now that you mention Twinkies, I might have to rethink that next time. Bye, I think Twinkies are being produced again. Also, I posted a recipe for lemon posset using regular lemons a couple years ago on my blog. It sets up firm the whole way through.

    Patricia @ ButterYum
    http://www.butteryum.org/roses-alpha-bakers/2015/2/19/lemon-posset-alma

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  8. hmmm.. this s the second time I post a comment and it poof! disappears... Flaky Blogger. Anyways, I wanted to let you know that you are not the only one that pulls the brown butter off the fire before.. I had way to many burn brown butters in the past to get me to this point. And always, our decoration in our heads are better than real life.

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  9. Vicki,
    Yes, it's a Nordicware pan. I have two of them for some reason--they probably came from one of the boxes I got from Woody when he moved east.

    Monica,
    I appreciate the words of wisdom.

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  10. Your shortcakes are lovely - I love the shine from the apple glaze! I loved your commentary about the decorating being better in your head than IRL. That's how I felt about last week's bake. Yours are adorable though!

    I completely agree with you about the Q&E classification...ummm, not! I thought these little cakes were way too much effort for the finished product.

    http://bakedtoorder.blogspot.com/2015/02/roses-alpha-bakers-lemon-posset.html

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  11. ב''ה

    Ah, so there is such a thing as apple jelly. Go figure. Looks great.

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  12. Now I want Marianne pans. Your cakes look great Marie. So shiny from the glaze.

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  13. I also had a hard time finding apple jelly, but figure I have lemon jelly i can use instead ..love the creativity with the Assyrian writing it looks great!!:-)

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  14. I believe the Quick and Easy tag is only for Lemon Posset Alma...which is the lemon posset without the cakelet. *That* would be Q&E!

    I'm with you, and almost every Alpha Baker whose post I've peered at: it's a lovely cake, but oh so many steps...

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  15. Hi Marie, your final picture is really pretty and inviting! I'm with you, I too love when the eggs turn to batter. For me, apple jelly is really hard to find, at least here in Canada. Can't find Pam with Flour either. I wait until I go to the States. Anyway, your cakes look beautiful.

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  16. Marie, I love your post! What pan did you use? I don't recall seeing that pan before...a classic shortcake pan perhaps? The egg to batter was the glam shot for sure.

    When I make brown butter, my tip is to always smell, smell and then smell again.... your noise will tell you the second it is JUST about to turn...just don't try it when you have a cold

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  17. Your cakelettes came out so perfect!! We really need to get together and bake again. I was reading through my Genoise Tres Cafe blog post (and yours too). It brought back wonderful memories of you, Jim, and Woody, and really made me laugh too :o)

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  18. Marie, your cakelettes are lovely! I agree, although all the components are simple, the steps are many and the timing is long, making this not a quick and easy recipe in the end. Love it, though!

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  19. It's easy, just not...quick. But I am good with recipes that let you refrigerate and wait.

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