This 5 ingredient raspberry swirl posset recipe is a total show stopper! It’s the perfect make-ahead dessert recipe for entertaining or holiday get-togethers.
We love this raspberry swirl posset recipe. Possets are rather unheard of here in the States. But once you try one, and better yet, you get a chance to see how magically and easily they come together, they’ll become a household mainstay without a doubt!
I have come across a few desserts that bring as much joy to the table and your taste buds as a Posset. No wonder they have such a storied history of being used as medicine!
How Do You Pronounce the Word “Posset”?
Depending on how you prefer to pronounce it, Posset can sound like a cute little girl’s name from the past or a member of the rodent family. It’s an old English word and is actually pronounced /ˈpäsət/, so ironically it sounds more like the name of a small member of the possum family.
Here at the Adventure Bite, we prefer to pronounce it /pōset/. Which sounds much more fitting to our ears considering how beautiful and delectable this creamy treat actually is.
What Is a Posset Made With?
A basic, modern Posset is made of just three simple ingredients you probably already keep in your kitchen. They are heavy cream, sugar, and an acid (most often lemon juice).
Even after you have made possets part of your regular repertoire of dishes, it still feels downright magical that these three ingredients can make such a rich, creamy concoction without the use of conventional thickeners like gelatin, corn starch, or even bread crumbs!
Although it only takes these three main ingredients to make a basic posset, the sky is really the limit on how creative you can get. Fruit, like the simple smashed raspberry sauce we use in this recipe, only scratches the surface. So be creative, and have fun with it!
We prefer to use honey over white sugar for flavor and health purposes and love the balance that adding a bit of lime juice to the mixture brings.
What Is the Science that Allows a Posset to Thicken Out of Just Three Unlikely, Unassuming Ingredients?
It turns out that when you add acid to milk or heavy cream, the change in pH causes the casein proteins to lose their negative charge so that they instead want to bond with each other. If you have the extra time, you’ll find this article from Cooks Illustrated quite enlightening.
In milk, loss of negative charge causes the casein proteins to clump together tightly, forming curds.
When the negative charge of casein proteins is removed in heavy cream, the result is a bit different. Because of the high concentration of fat molecules in heavy cream, casein can’t clump as tightly together, and the effect is a rich and silky smooth joy!
The sugar’s contribution can’t be ignored either. When sugar is heated and diffuses into the water, for instance, it ends up adding to the overall density of the newly formed liquid.
In the case of a posset, the sugar binds itself to the water molecules present in both the cream and lemon juice (or other acids), and as it cools, the effect is an increase in overall viscosity.
It doesn’t take more than a few hours in the fridge, for a posset to become very firm, and silky smooth. In some cases, depending on the recipe you are following, you will be able to turn a ramekin full of chilled posset completely upside down without anything running out. Just give it a little test jiggle before trying this.
Why Should You Trust Our Posset Recipe vs. Any Other Recipe Out There?
If you have been searching for very long for the perfect posset recipe to pop your posset cherry on, or have already tried another recipe before this, you may find that there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of variations in the basic process and ratios the top hits on Google will provide.
You are in luck! Our posset recipe is genuinely different, and in a satisfying, lip-smacking way too. Our acid and sugar ratios are much smaller in comparison to the volume of heavy cream called for in most recipes we have seen.
At first glance you may think our ratios are off, and that you won’t get the firm set you really want in an ideal posset. Don’t worry, this recipe has been well tested, and it works!
The resulting posset is lightly sweet and tangy. Other versions I have tried can be cloyingly sweet, and/or overwhelmingly tart. Too much lemon juice can light your mouth up like a battery.
Each serving of our Raspberry Swirl Posset has significantly less sugar than many other recipes call for, and we use honey rather than processed, white sugar!
This easy, rich, velvety smooth, dessert is sure to impress the socks off of anyone you serve it too. And it’s up to you whether you decide to tell them just how easy it was to make because you can prepare these several days in advance and store them covered in your refrigerator until you are ready to serve them to your guests.
Raspberry Swirl Posset Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups cream, heavy or regular whipping cream both work
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- Juice of 1/2 lime about 1 tablespoon juice
- 1 cup raspberries
Instructions
- 1. In a medium-size saucepan bring the cream and honey to a boil, over medium-high heat. Stir continually until the honey is fully combined.
- 2. Boil for 3 full minutes stirring continually. You may need to lower the heat to prevent boiling over. If the possibility for a boil overlooks imminent, just remove the pan from the stovetop for a few seconds.
- 3. Shut off the stovetop and stir in the lemon and lime juice.
- 4. Pour mixture into ramekins.
- 5. Mash raspberries with a fork to make a simple sauce. Lightly stir several tablespoons of mashed raspberries into each ramekin.
- 6. Cover the ramekins tightly with plastic wrap and chill a minimum of 2 hours. We prefer overnight if the time is available.
- 7. When you are ready to serve, top with a few fresh, whole raspberries and a mint leaf. If desired to shave a bit of dark chocolate over the top for a decadent finish. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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