Spring means flowers blooming everywhere. I can finally see rose buds in my garden, and my lavender bush is flourishing and looking very pretty! The lemon tree has an abundance of lemons enough to give to the whole town! 😉 All I can think of is how to use up all these gorgeous organic lemons! I have been thinking of Spring desserts, and I have a list of them that I have in mind that I want to make! If only there were 36 hours in a day and I could perhaps implement all my ideas haha!
The combination of Lavender, Lemon and Blackberry to me is a stellar combination, one that will seriously take you to heaven and back! Hence I had to put all three ingredients in one dessert to make the cutest jars of White Chocolate Lavender Pot de Creme with a Blackberry-Lavender Sauce topped with a Lemon Curd Whipped Cream! I know I know, a very long name for a dessert, but trust me, you have to take the spoon all the way down to the bottom of the jar and scoop out all the layers in one bite, and you will taste spring in your mouth! Utterly divine!
I made the lemon curd one day in advance such that it sets well and chills in the fridge. I used fresh organic lemons from my garden and boy oh boy, is that lemon curd delicious or what? 🙂 I made the blackberry and lavender sauce using culinary grade dried lavender. I crushed the blackberries, added some sugar, lemon juice and lavender and let it simmer for some time over the gas stove until it become a jammy consistency. I strained it to get a smooth sauce and let it cool in the fridge to thicken it up ever so slightly.
I used Ghirardelli white chocolate chips in this delicious custard, along with heavy cream steeped with culinary grade dried lavender. While the pot de creme is being baked, I made the lemon curd whipped cream! My goodness, I swear I could eat that whipped cream all in one seating, If only! My kids wanted it straight in their mouth from the pipping bag haha! I had to literally shoo them out of the kitchen! Once the pot de creme was baked, I let it set and cool for a couple of hours. Then I layered it with the blackberry-lavender sauce and put it in the deep freezer to set for a few minutes. Finally I added the lemon curd whipped cream on the top, and garnished with dried lavender, and a cute little flower.
There are a few steps to this dessert, but the lemon curd and blackberry lavender sauce can be made a day or two in advance and stored in the fridge. The pot de cremes can be made a day in advance as well, and then it is a matter or assembling the dessert before dinner! These pot de cremes would make excellent spring desserts and would surely impress guests. They are light and airy, so fruity and floral and super adorable as well!
In other news, Spring Break is coming soon for the kids, and I cant wait to take a few days off and spend time with my munchkins! They are growing too fast, and are amazingly witty, clever and crack the funniest jokes! Ofcourse we have our moments with me getting angry at them, or asking them a million times to clean their mess up, but the joy of being with them is incomparable to any other kind of joy! 🙂
Thank you for reading my post, and if you do make this recipe, please do not forget to tag #thejamlab on Instagram and/or leave me a comment on this blog post!
Enjoy the longer days! Happy Spring!
Lots of love
Amisha
Ingredients
- Servings: 4
- Blackberry Lavender Sauce:
- 1 cup blackberries
- 1/4 granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tsp culinary grade dried lavender
- Lemon Curd:
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 6 tbsp cold unsalted butter cut into cubes
- White Chocolate-Lavender Pot De Creme:
- (Makes 4 ramekins or 4 small weck jars)
- 7 ounces white chocolate cut into pieces
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 tsp culinary grade dried lavender
- 1/2 tsp lavender extract
- a pinch of sea salt
- Violet food coloring
- Lemon Curd Whipped Cream:
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 4 tbsp lemon curd
- Garnish:
- Culinary grade dried lavender
Instructions
- Blackberry Lavender Sauce:
- In a small sauce, add the blackberries, lemon juice, granulated sugar, lavender. Crush the blackberries with a potato masher, until it is all mushy. Now on medium to high heat, let the mixture heat up, and bubble for about 5-7 minutes. Stir it occasionally. It should become a jammy consistency. Strain it through a sieve to leave the blackberry seeds/pulp and lavender seeds, and form a smooth texture.
- Lemon Curd:
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together the eggs, lemon juice, granulated sugar, and lemon zest until combined. Now on low heat, keep stirring the mixture constantly with a wooden spoon. After a minute, add in the butter and stir constantly till it is all combined. Keep stirring for a total of 5-7 minutes until the curd is thick enough that it sticks to the back of the wooden spoon. When you run your index finger through the back of the wooden spoon, the sides should remain. Switch off the stove.
- Strain the curd through a fine sieve into a glass bowl. Cover with a saran wrap to not form a layer on the top. Cool in the refrigerator for an hour.
- White Chocolate-Lavender Pot De Creme:
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Prepare 4 ramekins in a baking tray.
- Cut the white chocolate into medium to small pieces. Put it in a glass bowl.
- In a small saucepan, on medium to low heat, add in the heavy cream and milk with the lavender. Let it heat up but do not let it boil. It should take 2 minutes. Once heated, pour the mixture into the white chocolate. Let it sit for 2 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, add in the egg yolks, sugar, salt, and whisk vigorously, until fluffly, frothy and pale.
- Add the lavender extract to the white chocolate mixture and stir with spatula until it is all well combined. Add this mixture slowly into the egg mixture and keep whisking with a whisk to combine. Add food coloring about a drop at a time to see what color you want the mixture to be. Or do not add any if you do want to.
- Strain this mixture through a fine sieve to remove any frothy bits or lavender or solids. The mixture should be smooth. Equally distribute the mixture into 4 ramekins.
- Prepare hot water to create a hot water bath, half way up to the ramekins. Put the baking tray in the middle rack of the oven for 35-40 minutes, until the tops are jiggly when shaken. If you put it in the small weck jars, keep the jars in for about 45 minutes for it to bake all the way through.
- Remove from the oven, and let it sit on the baking tray for 20 more minutes. Remove from the tray and put it in the refrigerator to set for atleast 3-4 hours.
- Assembly:
- Prepare Lemon Curd Whipped Cream:
- In a medium bowl, whisk the heavy cream vigorously for about 4 minutes until stiff peaks form either with a mixture or with a hand whisk. I generally do it with a large hand whisk. Add in the lemon curd and mix with a spatula to combine.
- Take a 12 inch pastry bag fitted with a wilton xx . Gently add in the lemon curd whipped cream. Push it down with a scrapper. Twist the pastry bag and keep it refrigerated.
- Remove the pot de creme ramekins from the refrigerator. Divide the Blackberry-lavender sauce into each of the ramekins. Let it set it in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Now pipe each one of the ramekins with the Lemon Curd Whipped Cream. Garnish with dried lavender. It is ready to serve and eat!
Reader Interactions