Lemon curd

One needs some sunshine here in life when it’s winter and dark. So, I decided to make lemon curd to brighten my day.

I have read countless recipes and tried several. After experimenting, I have developed the following formula, which is guaranteed to be super delicious and tastes like lemon curd. Of course, you can buy it ready-made, but what you buy never tastes as good as the one you make yourself. It is worth the effort to do so, not difficult at all.

The crux is that I removed the wax from the lemons before. If you find it awkward, you can skip and wash the lemons thoroughly, but I prefer to remove the wax from the lemons. You can find the recipe HERE

Ingredients for 430 g or 4.3 dl
200 g sugar
7 g grated peel of lemons
6 egg yolks
90 g squeezed and strained lemon juice
114 – 115 g unsalted butter

Method:

1. Measure everything – separate egg whites and egg yolks, set aside. You can always freeze the egg whites if you want to use them later for meringues or something else.
2. Remove the wax from the lemons or wash thoroughly, dry with a towel and zest the peel – you need about 7 – 8 grams. (5-6 lemons depending on size).
   Squeeze the lemons, strain, and set aside.
3. It is unnecessary, but if you have a tiny mixer, it is advantageous to run sugar and lemon zest together for a few minutes to get the oil from the zest when processed with the sugar. Of course, you can do this well in advance and maybe leave it overnight to get more flavor. But it is not a must.
4. Pour the egg yolks into a saucepan – whisk until the egg yolks become a little paler.
5. Mix in the sugar and whisk until the sugar has almost dissolved and the egg yolks become a little lighter in color – (2 – 3 minutes)
6. Add the squeezed lemon a little at a time, constantly whisking until the color of the mass becomes a little lighter.
7. Heat the mixture on low heat and constantly whisk until the mass thickens. The mixture begins to thicken after about 10 minutes. Check by dipping a  wooden spoon into the mixture drawing a line on the back of the wooden spoon – if the mass does not flow together, it is ready.
8. Remove from the heat. Add the cold butter (a little at a time) – mix until all the butter has melted.
9. You have the option to strain the mixture, but it is not necessary.
10. Pour the curd into a jar and cover the surface with a bit of plastic wrap to prevent skin from forming on the surface.
    You might wonder how long you can keep the lemon curd? The shelf life is one week in the fridge and three months in the freezer.

Enjoy!

Some tips:

• Essential to use fresh lemons – never use squeezed lemon in a bottle!
• Keep it on low heat, do not be tempted to increase the heat to make it go faster – the risk is significant that you get scrambled eggs instead of lemon curd.
• If your stove is difficult to handle, you can use the water bath method. Put the mass in a bowl over water in a saucepan instead.
• You can mix spices in the lemon curd when you are going to use it, in cakes, etc. – an example is ground cardamom. Of course, you do not have to, but it can be delicious!
• You can use oranges instead of lemons – it will also be super tasty!

Serving tips:

• Filling in cakes, for example, mixed with a bit of whipping cream.
• As it is with scones.
• Filling for pies with meringue on top.