lemon curd

When I first met the LAM, he told me his older brother used to be mad about lemon curd. He would eat pots of it when my Mother-in-law made them. I had never heard of lemon curd and in my mind, I sort of thought it was some sort of lemon jam, and since I do not like jam, I did not really understand why someone would eat pots of it.

Recently, I made some lemon cupcakes. Try as I might, I could not figure out what I could use to fill the cupcakes with. Then I remembered the lemon curd. I thought why not give it a shot?

And so I made some.

When I was done cooking the lemon curd, I took a spoonful to try.

GAH.

It was so so so good! I mean, this was not like jam at all!! It was like... lemon butter, but without the greasy taste of the butter.

I had to make myself put the lemon curd away, because at the rate I was "tasting", I would not have enough left to fill my cupcakes with!!

You may want to try making some lemon curd. Apart from being really versatile, it is also very easy to make. Here's how.

To start, I grated the zest of all the lemons I used - to get 150 ml fresh lemon juice, I used 3 lemons.

After removing the zest, I extracted the juice.

This was placed with the eggs, yolks and sugar in a metal (or any heat proof) bowl.

The bowl was placed on a pot of simmering water, and the mixture was whisked.

Once it started to thicken, I switched to a wooden spoon and continue to stir.

Once it had thickened (it should leave a path on the back of the spoon), I removed the bowl from the bain-marie and added the butter in 2 batches, and stirred until the butter had melted.

The next step is not strictly necessary, but I sieved the curd (or any custard) to be sure that my custard was smooth.

Finally, I added the zest in batches and tasted after each addition. I ended up using all the lemon zest.

And there you have it. Thick and luscious lemon curd.

I used mine (ok, what was left) to fill cupcakes.

But you can use it as a filling for cakes, to pour over well, basically, anything, or eat it as it is.

Super YUM!

RECIPE
Lemon Curd (Makes about 600ml)
Loosely adapted from thelittleteochew

Ingredients:
60g unsalted butter
225g sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
150 ml fresh lemon juice
grated lemon zest of 3 lemons (depending on how strong you want the flavour of lemon)

Method:
1. In a large bowl, whisk all the ingredients except the zest and butter. Mix well. Place the bowl over a bain-marie (water bath) and stir constantly. The mixture may look curdled, but it will smooth out as it cooks.
2. Once the mixture thickens - it should leave a path on the back of a spoon - turn off the flame and add butter in 2 or 3 additions. Sieve the lemon curd to get rid of any lumps. Add the zest and stir to mix well.
3. Allow the curd to cool slightly before transferring to a clean jar or bowl. Make sure it is covered to prevent a skin from forming.
4. Chill in the refrigerator. The curd will thicken further as it cools. Covered tightly, it will keep in the refrigerator for a week and in the freezer for 2 months.