Lemon Curd

Believe it or not, I was in my forties before I first experienced the delights of lemon curd! I don’t recall even hearing about it or noticing it in the grocery store before that time. One of my kids was in a summer day camp program, and when I picked her up, she handed me the results of the afternoon’s project–a jar labeled ‘lemon curd’. Of course, I immediately tried it, on a piece of toast, as I recall. That was it–instantly, I became a lemon curd fanatic (the only other thing that comes close, in my opinion, is a good, thick-cut orange marmalade).

But despite my love of this lemony delight, and my love of cooking, for some reason I never tried to make it. I guess I thought it would be complicated and time consuming. Although why I would reach such a conclusion when my seven year old had just whipped it up at day camp, I can’t tell you. At any rate, better late than never, and finally, at the age of sixty-five, I have successfully made my first batch of glorious lemon curd–with lemons from my very own lemon tree. And it is so easy, I can’t even believe it.

Ingredients: 

2 large whole eggs

2 large egg yolks

1/2 to ¾ cup sugar depending on level of sweetness preferred

½ cup fresh lemon juice

lemon zest of 1-2 lemons, depending upon how zesty you desire your curd

¼ teaspoon of himalayan pink salt

6 tablespoons of cold unsalted butter, cubed

Combine all ingredients except the butter in a pan (I used my Le Creuset 5 qt Dutch oven) over LOW heat. Whisk continuously for about ten minutes. When the curd is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, remove from heat (the curd will continue to thicken as it cools). Add the butter and stir until everything is melted and smooth. Transfer the curd to a glass jar, and voila! You now have homemade lemon curd. This will keep a week to ten days in the fridge, and you can also freeze it. If you prefer your curd totally smooth, you can strain out the lemon zest before you add the butter, but honestly, why would you?

Makes about 2 cups–I’ll be doubling the recipe from now on.

My favorite things to put this on are:

Greek yogurt

Lemon pound cake

Shortbread

Vanilla ice cream (or gelato!)

Baguettes

English muffins

Pancakes

Enjoy!