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1
Start with eggs at room temperature.
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2
Separate eggs, breaking yolks into the bowl of a nonreactive (i.e. stainless steel or ceramic) double boiler.
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3
Add sugar to the yolks and beat with an electric or immersion mixer until thick and pale.
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4
Grate the rind from one or both lemons and juice them both. Strain the juice.
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5
Add the rind and the 1/2 c, water to the sugar/yolk mix. More rind means more lemony flavor; I use it all but you may prefer less.
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6
Place the bowl over simmering water and cook, stirring very often, until the foam has mostly disappeared and the mix is thickened to a thin syrup. This takes a while and the foam disappearing is your best clue that it's done. Remove from heat.
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7
Mix the gelatin with 11/2 T. cold water and immediately add it to the mix, stirring until the gelatin completely dissolves. Set aside to cool.
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8
Meanwhile, beat the egg whites to soft peaks in an electric mixer. Before you start make sure the bowl and whisk are perfectly clean as egg whites will not stiffen well if they touch even a trace of grease.
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9
Fold whites carefully into the sugar/yolk/gelatin mix. It can be hard to get all of the yolk mix folded in, so I flip the ingredients into another bowl so I can see and incorporate any remaining liquid.
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10
Place into the serving bowl or bowls of your choice. Refrigerate 5 hours or until serving time.
