Lemon curd |
Sorry
that the picture doesn't do my lemon
curd justice. I have made jams and a
chutney before but this was my very first attempt at lemon curd – and it turned
out just great! And was quicker to do
than jam or chutney. What's not to love?
The
only thing is that I realised how much butter and sugar goes into it – we have
used bought lemon curd up to now – and liked it very much – no wonder with all
the butter in there! We now have it
straight on toast rather than buttering first.
Ingredients
8-9
lemons – enough to make 1 ¼ cups of lemon juice (which you strain)
220g
butter, cubed (just under 8 oz)
1
½ cups of caster sugar
Finely
grated zest of 1 lemon – I used my microplane
6
large eggs
Now
I have put quantities in – because for this recipe the relative proportions are
important to the result. This made 3
normal sized jars.
I
won't tell you how to get your jars ready.
You might sterilise etc. I just
rinse clean jars in hot water. And keep
the curd in the fridge.
If
you have a double boiler you should use it.
I didn't so put a metal bowl over the top of a saucepan and it worked
just fine.
So
you get your water to the boil – don't put in too much – it mustn't touch the
bottom of the bowl.
Pop
your bowl on top and then put in your sugar, butter, lemon zest and lemon
juice. Heat over medium heat until the
butter has all melted.
In
another bowl whisk the eggs well – now comes the only tricky part. You put the egg into the butter mixture and
then anxiously stir it continuously with a wooden spoon until it thickens. Now don't stop stirring – but also pull the
bowl away from the heat and check that the water underneath is only simmering
gently. If you apply too much heat at
this stage things will turn to scrambled egg!
Disaster.
The
moment I felt it thickening – which took about 5 to 7 minutes, I pulled it off
the heat and stirred furiously to ensure the bottom wasn't sticking. Don't worry if it is still a bit runny – it
will thicken some more when it cools.
Pour
the mixture though a sieve and then pour it into the jars – using your jam funnel, if you have one.
I
put little waxed paper discs on top of each pot and then put on the lids. The waxed discs are optional but I think they
give a better seal.
The
store bought version costs $4.99 a jar and I worked out that my version cost
$3.00 for the ingredients. If you
counted my time and the gas it would probably have been cheaper to buy it. But the result was so perfectly to our taste
that I am sure I will do it again.
One of my favorites and my daughters too, thanks for sharing,I'll give this one a try.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this! I've always wanted to try making it myself but have never really read a good how-to about it before.
ReplyDeleteHooray!! I LOVE lemon curd. I made it this summer too, and am excited to never buy it ever AGAIN! I think homemade tastes better too :)
ReplyDeleteThis looks much better than my recipe. (Mine's too sweet) Thank You!
ReplyDeleteI cannot stress how much I LOVE lemon curd - and if it's homemade, I love it even more. But you're right about the butter & sugar of course!
ReplyDeleteI have never tried lemon curd... at least I don't think so but I am sure I would love it. What do you use it for?
ReplyDeletehome made is so much better! and you can experiment with flavours :)
ReplyDeleteI'd love to try some, never had any before - looks so good!
ReplyDeleteI've never had or used lemon curd before. What do you do with it? What am I missing out on because I really like lemons in recipes. Love that tang! Dropping by from Delicious Dish Tuesday
ReplyDeleteI have been wanting to try this. Thank you so much for posting it on Manic Monday. Pinned and shared on FB and Twitter :) hope to see you next week!!
ReplyDeleteGreat recipe! Thanks you joined to my link party!
ReplyDelete