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You are here: Home / Recipes / Dessert / Blood orange posset

Blood orange posset

by Jeanne Horak on March 26, 2015 21 Comments in Dessert, Gluten-free

BloodOrangepossetTitle

As many of my food-minded readers might know, Saturday 14 March was Pi day – officially a day to celebrate the mathematical constant (the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter), but also appropriated by the food blogging community as pie day (geddit??).  They are probably also familiar with  pancake day and Nutella day – but what of the more obscure world days out there?  The quirky Days of the Year website has made me aware of such classics as Manatee Appreciation Day, Find a Rainbow Day, Scrabble Day, and Take Your Dog to Work Day.  Any takers? You probably also were not aware that last Friday was the United Nations International Day of Happiness – I certainly wasn’t until I opened my newspaper. It seens that the UN in 2012, having recognised the pursuit of happiness as a fundamental human goal, established an International Day of Happiness, to be celebrated each year on 20 March starting from 2013.  The idea is for individuals and groups to raise awareness of factors inhibiting our search for happiness (alienation and loneliness are rife in modern society) and to take part in small or large actions to increase the collective level of happiness.

Happiness is something that I spend a lot of time thinking about. Am I happy? How would I define happy? Could I be happier? And I was thrilled a couple of years ago to find I was not the only one asking these questions – Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project became my constant companion for a few months and I still quote from it. Survey after survey has been done to try and distill what it is that makes people happy and the results are remarkably consistent: good health, fulfilling relationships, meaningful work, optimism, gratitude, religion and forgiveness. (Also, hilariously, watching TV!). But all of these are fairly long-term goals or habits that have to be learnt and practised over time – I am perhaps even more fascinated by the small, everyday things that we can do to instantly and massively boost our happiness. For me, that would include a walk in the fresh air (beach preferable!); a long hot scented bath; listening to my favourite music; taking a beautiful photograph; or sitting in the sun with a good book. How about you? What everyday things make you happy?

 

BloodOrangesRaw

 

Something else that makes me happy is the arrival of seasonal produce that I have been longing for all year. Yes, I like my Granny Smith apples and I eat them all year round, but only the rarity value of produce with a very defined season really sends me into raptures: figs, rhubarb, Jerusalem artichokes… and blood oranges. The blood orange is a natural mutation ofthe common or garden variety orange which as resulted in the flesh of the fruit ranging from… well, orange with tiny flecks of red, to a uniformly deep, ruby colour. The red colour (caused by antioxidant anthocyanin pigments) needs cold nights while the fruit is developing and because this process can’t be fully controlled, you never know what you will find when you cut into a blood orange. Of the small bag I had, one was proper red while the other two came in various degrees of red streaks. Who can resist this touch of anarchy in today’s world of cookie-cutter identical fruit?

When I spotted these blood oranges at the supermarket, I already knew what I wanted to make with them: blood orange posset. A posset is a rather quaintly archaic dessert which started off its life as a hot drink of milk curdled with wine or ale, often spiced – something which was popular in Britain from medieval times until the 19th century. More recently, the term has come to refer to a dessert rather than a drink, consisting of sweetened thickened cream usually flavoured with lemon. It contains no gelatine so it lacks the wobbliness of a panna cotta, tending instead towards the sheer decadence of clotted cream. Swapping the lemon for blood oranges means that you can reduce the amount of sugar somewhat, and if your blood oranges are a deeper red than mine, it also means a beautifully pink dessert. Either way, its a decadent seasonal treat that’s perfect for making the day before a dinner party – and I promise that eating it will make you happy!

In other news, I wanted to share with you my new publisher page on Yummly. Yummly is a website that allows you to discover recipes from all over the web and to save them in a virtual recipe box – it’s as easy as clicking on the Yum button on your toolbar to add a recipe! Once a recipe is saved in your recipe box, you can connect with Facebook and share it with your Facebook friends, or you can divide your recipes up into collections, rather like mini recipe books. So, for example, you can have a Yummly collection of only soup recipes, or only cake recipes – or even heirloom recipes. Another nifty feature is Yummly’s use of recipe filters – rumour has it that the company was born out of the founder’s frustration at being unable to search ONLY for recipes without mustard. The site’s unique filters allow users to find the perfect recipes by holiday, cuisine, taste, diet, nutrition, allergy, cook time, technique etc and also allow you to filter by “with” or “without” a particular ingredient (in my case, “without banana”!) Sign up today to start creating your own recipe box and collections – you can easily add any of my recipes by clicking on the orange “Yum” button below each recipe post. And if you want to see all Cooksister recipes that are already on Yummly, have a look at my publisher page. Happy Yumming!

 

BloodorangepossetFinal

 

If you love blood oranges, you might also like:

  • my fennel and blood orange salad with toasted pistachios
  • Charlie’s blood orange posset with candied peel
  • Bintu’s roasted blood orange and asparagus
  • Kellie’s creamy blood orange smooothie
  • Aniko’s blood orange tart
  • Laura’s brown sugar meringues with grilled blood oranges and rhubarb
  • David’s blood orange sorbet

 

4.9 from 7 reviews
Blood orange posset
 
Print
Prep time
20 mins
Cook time
5 mins
Total time
25 mins
 
This traditional English dessert is decadently creamy, yet lifted by the subtle citrus flavour of the oranges. All you need is three ingredients!
Author: Jeanne Horak-Druiff
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: British
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • the juice and finely grated zest of 2 blood oranges (you can use ruby grapefruit too but may need to add extra sugar) plus an extra orange for garnish
  • 600ml double cream
  • 120g caster sugar
Instructions
  1. In a saucepan over medium heat, bring the cream and sugar to a boil.  Allow to bubble gently for 3-5 minutes, then remove from the heat.
  2. Stir in the zest, then whisk in the juice until well mixed. Allow to cool for half an hour or so, stirring from time to time, then divide the mixture between four pretty glasses.
  3. Cover with clingfilm and allow to set overnight in the fridge.  Serve topped with peeled segments from the remaining orange.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe
3.2.2929

 

Want to learn to style and photograph food like a pro?  I am hosting a 2-day hands-on food styling and photography workshop together with photographer Meeta K Wolff in London on 1-2 May 2015. Get your ticket now! 

Let’s keep in touch!
You can also find me tweeting at @cooksisterblog, snapping away on Instagram, or pinning like a pro on Pinterest.  To keep up with my latest posts, you can subscribe to my free e-mail alerts, like Cooksister on Facebook, or follow me on Bloglovin.

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  1. Krista says

    March 26, 2015 at 8:49 am

    I do love old-fashioned desserts like this. 🙂 And with our citrus crop nearly ready, I’m happy to find good citrus recipes. 🙂

    Reply
  2. [email protected] says

    March 26, 2015 at 10:39 am

    Ooh, how delightfully easy – and indulgent! Love this, Jeanne. 🙂

    Reply
  3. Rosa says

    March 26, 2015 at 12:35 pm

    A heavenly and refined dessert.

    It’s the little things in life that make me happy (a smile, kindness, my cat, seasonal vegetables/fruits, cooking/baking, sunshine, gorgeous landscapes, my BF’s love & support, etc…).

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    Reply
  4. [email protected] says

    March 26, 2015 at 1:29 pm

    Lemon posset was one of the first desserts I ever made when working in restaurants in London. It is such a good thing and so easy. I would love to try it with blood oranges. They are a fruit that is not like any other and I love them and like you say, the way you never know how they are going to look from their skin. Thanks for linking to my meringues too!

    Reply
  5. Margot @ Coffee & Vanilla says

    March 26, 2015 at 1:33 pm

    So now I know what to do with all those blush oranges I have at home 🙂 Beautiful photos Jeanne!

    Reply
  6. Helene @Croque-Maman says

    March 26, 2015 at 1:50 pm

    Thank you for sharing this Days of the Year website!!! This is so funny… today is purple day… one of my little one’s favourite colour :-)))

    Loving your possets too with blood orange as well a very nice twist, yummmm, beautiful inspiring photos.

    Reply
  7. Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says

    March 26, 2015 at 2:03 pm

    I never knew posset was so easy to make!! This looks absolutely wonderful. I’ve never seen blood oranges in the shops here but will have to keep my eyes peeled for them!

    Reply
  8. peter @feedyoursoultoo says

    March 26, 2015 at 5:32 pm

    Never heard of a posset but whatever you call it, it looks lovely!

    Reply
  9. Gary says

    March 27, 2015 at 1:23 pm

    I’m really into possets at the moment and I can just taste this now – the sharp orange and velvety cream must be heavenly together.

    Reply
  10. Patricia @ Grab a Plate says

    March 29, 2015 at 6:05 am

    This sounds amazing! I’m in love with blood oranges (and delicious desserts like this)!

    Reply
  11. Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours says

    March 29, 2015 at 5:54 pm

    Just lovely – an excellent use of blood oranges! I do like a good posset.

    Reply
  12. Andrew says

    March 30, 2015 at 5:25 pm

    You really are a temptress! You know how much I love a dessert but am trying to ignore them and then you go and create a bloody posset…. 🙂

    Lets see if Able and Cole have blood oranges this week…

    Reply
  13. Di @ Bibbyskitchenat36 says

    April 2, 2015 at 4:31 pm

    Sharing food with those around your table is both a privilege and a great joy. It holds happiness potential. Love your blood orange posset. Looks super creamy and very delicious! Will give them a try soon as orange season is just about to happen here in SA.

    Reply
  14. Jonathan Fletcher says

    April 8, 2015 at 4:19 pm

    Love blood oranges, the company I buy ice cream from have just brought out a sorbet….delicious

    Reply
  15. Jessy Gothworth says

    April 21, 2015 at 7:53 am

    Delicious! Will deffinitely cook it up tomorrow morning!

    Reply
  16. Anukampa says

    April 24, 2015 at 10:58 am

    Looks so good and nice presentation too.
    Surely give it a try

    Reply
  17. Adam Morris says

    December 30, 2016 at 10:28 am

    Looks yummy. I’m experimenting with citrus desserts to see how much I can reduce the sugar by using the taste changing effects of the Miracle berry. Any food of an acidic nature, blood orange in this case is perceived as sweet for around an hour after consuming the berry. So much so, in some instances you can remove the sugar completely. Most use agave syrup. This recipe is a prime candidate. I don’t have any cheese, but I’m happy to send you a couple of grams of unpressed miracle berry if you email me a postal address. Best regards, Adam.

    Reply
  18. Alexandria B says

    April 14, 2020 at 4:09 pm

    This recipe looked beautiful, I followed it exactly as written. Unfortunately its been 2 days and my posset has not set? I have made a lemon posset before and did not have this problem. Any ideas as to what went wrong?

    Reply
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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