Lemon curd.
Yeah, it's kind of unknown or unacknowledged here in Canada, but I had it first in the United Kingdom and have counted myself among its most loyal followers ever since. It's delicious - very tart, but very creamy and utterly delicious on shortbread. It's not hard to make, and it keeps well in a refrigerator. It's also a beautiful buttery colour.
Lemon Curd
6-7 tbs unsalted good butter
1 cup of sugar
2 big eggs
2 big egg yolks
2/3 a cup of fresh (that means squeeze-it-yourself) lemon juice (this is usually about 2-3 lemons' worth)
a pinch or two of grated and finely chopped lemon zest
In a big, cool glass bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until smooth. Add the eggs and the egg yolks. Beat with creamed mixture for about a minute or until fully combined. Add the lemon juice - it's going to look pretty rough & curdled there, but don't worry, it'll smooth out in the next step.
Pour the mixture into a heavy pot. On low, and stirring constantly, cook the mixture. You'll see that as it heats up, it loses its curdled look. Turn the heat up to around medium, and keep stirring - it needs to cook for about 13 minutes so it can thicken up. Don't let it boil, though. It should leave a coating on your stirring utensil when you take that utensil out of the mixture.
Remove the pot from the heat, and add that pinch or two of lemon zest. Stir to combine.
Now, get some jars. Pour the lemon curd into them and let cool.... or take some of the slightly warm stuff and slather it onto some shortbread. So tasty!
You can also use it for a filling for tarts or for a larger shortbread crust tart.
3 comments:
I try to limit my consumption of lemon curd as I have a suspicion I might be addicted to it and not be able to stop eating it if I started!
Now you've published your recipe I fear for my health!
@Browners - I pretty much always have a jar in my fridge - and therefore I fear that my fondness has escalated into a full-fledged addiction. It's sad, I realize, but no one can help me until I want to help myself.
Oh heavens, I've actually been lucky enough to have your homemade lemon curd in pie format as you know, and it was DELICIOUS! I must pretend I never saw that you published this recipe so that I won't be tempted to make lemon curd pie every spare second I get...
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