Inspired by my lovely friend Gail, who asked me last week if I had a good recipe for lemon curd. At the time I didn’t.
Over the course of the past week, I’ve done a lot of research on lemon curd – looking for recipes and how they varied. Finally, I came up with my own recipe – a combination of the recipes from bakers I trusted. I am very satisfied with the results. I’m very happy I decided to make a double batch, allowing a nice amount to enjoy right now, and leaving lots for jars to be enjoyed later.
I’ll have to send some home to my dad – he looooooves all things lemon.
Meyer lemons, for anyone who might not now, are a hybrid fruit, a cross between a mandarin and a lemon. They are quite a bit sweeter than regular lemons, and they happen to be in season and widely available right now, so I chose to use them. Regular lemons will work just as well, but you may consider adding just a bit more sugar.
Meyer Lemon Curd
4 meyer lemons (to yield about 3/4 C juice)
1 1/2 C sugar
1/2 C butter, at room temperature
4 eggs
1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp salt
First, you must zest and juice your lemons. You should do them in this order, since it is very difficult to zest the lemon after it’s been juiced. I know this from experience.
I ended up with about 3 Tbsp of lemon zest, and 1 1/2 C of lemon juice. (Remember though, that I made a double batch. A single batch will yield about half these amounts of zest and juice.)
Next, cream the butter, sugar, and zest until well blended.
Incorporate the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one, finishing with the egg yolk. Finally, add the juice and mix well.
Transfer the mixture to a pot. Heat and whisk the mixture continually over medium-low heat (closer to low to discourage curdling and burning the curd).
Heat until the curd starts to thicken and your whisk starts to leave tracks in the curd, about 20-25 minutes. You’ll know the curd is ready to remove from the heat when it coats the back of a spatula, and when you run your finger through it, the trail left by your finger doesn’t fill itself back in.
Strain the curd through a seive, which will catch the zest and any other small lumps that might have developed during the cooking process.
Refrigerate for 4 hours before eating. Or at least, maybe you should, we wouldn’t know. I will say though, that it’s quite delicious served warm.
Store the curd in jars if you wish, otherwise it can be kept in a bowl or container in the refrigerator for at least a couple of weeks. It can be frozen too, for up to 6 months, although I have no idea how it would last that long around here!
Gail – thank you so much for the inspiration for our dinner of cream scones and lemon curd on this cozy Sunday evening.
The Frilly Apron 