Lemon pots au creme

My lovely sister introduced me to these last Christmas. Possibly the best taste to effort ratio of any dessert I have ever made.

This has inspired me to try a whole lot of different treatments - using a different acid could be inspirational. So I ordered some tartaric acid (used to make mascarpone).

Ingredients

zest and juice of 3 lemons

2 1/2 cups heavy cream

5 oz granulated sugar

pinch of salt

2T brandy (optional)

suitable small fruit for color in the serving dish. We used blueberries

Method

zest the lemons into the sugar. Add the lemon zest/sugar mixture to the heavy cream and start to warm through. Put in the salt at this stage. As the cream starts to simmer, stir well. Then take it off heat and allow to cool to lukewarm. Mix the brandy with the lemon juice and stir into the cream immediately. When thoroughly incorporated, place into serving dishes/ glasses along with the fruit (if using). Chill for at least 2 hrs and serve cold.

Update - 9/11/2016

I streamlined the process a bit for the dinner yesterday evening. And used Meyer lemons instead of ordinary lemons. As insurance I added a pinch of tartaric acid too - I wasn't sure how well they would set using Meyer lemon juice.

Technique update (slight, but made a huge difference).

I hate it when you don't get all of the liquid out of a measuring jug. So on this occasion, I mixed the lemon zest and sugar in the jug in which I had measured the cream. That ensured we had cleaned the cream jug properly. I then squeezed the lemon juice into a small bowl - through a strainer.  Meyer lemons have a lot of pips. When the cream/sugar mixture had cooled, I strained it back into the measuring jug, Stirred in the lemon juice (and Calvados instead of brandy) into the measuring jug, mixed it and used the jug to pour the mixture into the chilled serving cups. Much less fuss than usual!

Update - 06/23/2023

Not the same dish exactly, but since the technique was similar, I thought I would tack it on to the end of this one!

Some friends extolled the virtues of Chaunsa magoes from Pakistan, So I bought far too many (about 40 of them!) They weren't all for me, but I did keep quite a few. The question came, "What to do with them?" Especially as eating them out of hand causes the most impressive blood sugar spikes. I figured that some kind of mango cream dessert would fit the bill, so I tinkered!

Ingredients

2 Chaunsa mangoes. Peeled, flesh pureed and pits retained

2 1/2 cups heavy cream

4 oz granulated sugar

Zest of 1 large lemon

1/4 tsp tartaric acid dissolved in 1 tsp water

Method

Pour the cream into a large saucepan. Add the sugar and lemon zest to the measuring jug, and then scrape the contents into the cream. Submerge the mango pits into the sugar/lemon/cream mixture. Bring to a simmer, hold at simmering point for 10 minutes. Strain into a measuring jug to cool.

Meanwhile combine the mango puree and tartaric acid solution and then add to the strained cream. Stir thoroughly to combine.

Pour into small serving bowls and chill overnight.