Important Meals

It's been a while since I've updated this blog.  Not, I might add, because I've stopped making things.  I've been working on a really big project, but sadly it's top secret.  Yes, I'm rolling my eyes at myself so you can do it too.  Actually it really is top secret, and more importantly it's not my secret so I can't write about it - yet.  I'll show you what I've been doing next month.  Probably some time after the 13th....

Anyway, I had a night off the big project and I had promised that I would make dessert for an important dinner on Sunday night with the lovely Charlie and Simon.  I wanted to make something a little bit different.  Charlie requested something light and chocolate is off the menu because of allergies.

One of my lovely friends on Urban 75 had been posting about making possets recently.  They sounded delicious and as a side note I learnt that posset is also used to refer to baby sick.  Nice.  But don't let that put you off the pudding.

I found an awesome looking recipe from Nigel Slater on the Guardian website

Lemon Posset
Makes 4 small glasses.

Ignore the large glass of gin

500ml double cream
150g caster sugar
75ml lemon juice

Put the cream and caster sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar.


Reduce the heat so that the mixture doesn't boil over, and let it bubble enthusiastically for about 3 minutes, stirring regularly.
Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice and leave to settle. Pour into four small wine glasses or cups and leave to cool. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.







I served mine in ramekins rather than glasses, as I figured they would be easier to transport that way and garnished them with a curl of lime.


I needed to make something to serve them with so I decided to experiment with making some brandy snaps.  How hard could this possibly be after all.  The sort of phrase that usually gets me into trouble. 


But I found a really good (and by that I mean simple) looking recipe on the trusty BBC Good Food recipe.



Brandy Snaps

55g butter
55g demerara sugar
55g golden syrup
50g plain flour
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp lemon juice

1.  Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line two baking trays with baking parchment then oil a thickish handle of a wooden spoon and lay it on a cooling rack
2.  Measure the butter, sugar and syrup into a small, heavy-based pan.
3. Heat gently until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. This will take about 15 minutes over a low heat. Don’t let the mixture boil as it may crystallise
4.  Leave the mixture to cool slightly, about 2-3 minutes, then sieve in the flour and ginger. Pour in the lemon juice and stir well to mix thoroughly. Drop four teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto each of the prepared baking trays to make neat circles, about 10cm/4in apart.
5. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 10-15 minutes really not true.  8 minutes tops.  You can see what happened to the 15 minute baked versions in the photos below, or until the mixture is well spread out, looks lacey and is a dark golden colour. Once baked, you need to work fast to shape the brandy snaps, so its easier if you bake one tray at a time. Not actually true.  If you put each tray in as it's ready, you've just about finished with the first by the time the second is ready.
6.  Remove each tray from the oven and leave for a minute or so to firm up slightly, then lift from the baking parchment using a fish slice. The mixture needs to be just firm enough to remove, but pliable enough to shape And you need to have fingers made of asbestos.  Seriously this stuff is HOT and has about a three minute window in which you can work with it before it needs to go back in the oven
7. Quickly roll a circle of the warm mixture around the handle of the wooden spoon, having the  join underneath. Press the join lightly together to seal, then slide the brandy snap off the spoon and leave it to firm up on the wire rack, again with the join underneath.
8. If any of the circles on the sheet harden too much to work with, put them back in the oven for a few seconds to soften again. Repeat until all the mixture has been used. If the mixture in the pan becomes too firm to drop in neat spoonfuls, roll a teaspoonful of it into a small smooth ball in your hands, sit it on the baking tray and flatten slightly with your fingers. When cold, store the brandy snaps in an airtight tin or container; they will keep for at least a week. 

And do you know what - they worked really well.  They were a bit fiddly to make but they taste delicious.

See what I mean about the 15 minute versions?

I'm confident that I've fulfilled the brief and that my contribution to dinner will live up to Charlie's high standards.  Oh and as to why the dinner is important?  It just is.