meyer lemon semifreddo

When I was preparing the menu to do my big dinner recently, I knew I wanted to do a lemon dessert. Originally I was going to make Lemon Tassies but the thought of making 24 little tarts in a mini muffin pans sounded completely exhausting to me. Instead, I kept looking for something unique to do… and something a little easier.

This recipe is … well, mostly easy. Except for the “constant 12-15 minutes of whisking over a pot of boiling water”, it is pretty easy!

We’re going to start about midway through the process for this one, since I forgot to take photos of making the base… I think I got some good arm exercises out of that one.

lemon-semifreddo-base

This is the Meyer Lemon base – is a very bright yellow, is it not? This is what you end up with after mixing egg yolks, lemon zest and juice, salt, and 1 cup of the sugar for 12 minutes. After you create the base, you let it cool completely. I actually let is cool overnight and finished this up the next morning.

whipping-cream

This part is easy, since you can just stick it into a mixing bowl and let it go. Unless you want the arm exercise. I had enough of that the day before.

This is just two cups of heavy whipping cream and 1/2 cup of sugar, mixed together until soft peaks form.

beaters

I just dug this photo of the whisk attachment. You can kind of see mini peaks!

fold-in-thirds

You fold in the whipped cream in thirds so you can lightly incorporate the whipped cream to make semifreddo. See how bright the batter still is?

second-addition

It really starts to lighten up in color when you add the next third line… again, gently folding it in.

final-whipped-cream-added

Until you’re left with this light yellow colored mixture.

into-bread-pan-to-freeze

Take a baking/bread pan and line it with plastic wrap and then scoop the semifreddo in. Let it set and freeze for at least 4 hours before serving.

semi-frozen-semifreddo

The plastic wrap makes it easier to lift the whole thing out for slicing. It doesn’t really freeze all of the way and get too hard – it’s sort of a cross between a mousse and a frozen yogurt. The tartness of this still shines through but the whipped cream helps to lighten it up and give it a very smooth texture.

plated-up-semifreddo

If I had really thought ahead, I’d probably have paired this with berries or something. Instead, I had the weird combination of chocolate brownie and meyer lemon. Ah well.

I hope you try this out sometime – it’s delicious and refreshing and a great way to use up a bunch of lemons! Recipe below: Continue reading “meyer lemon semifreddo”