One of my absolute favourite things that my Grandma used to make was lemon curd. Well that, and mince gravy...but that's for another day.
I could easily eat a whole jar of it in one sitting. Now my family will say that I already have done that, but it's not true...honest. It's at least two sittings.
In the shops there are two different types of lemon curd. There's your bargain bucket type, quite solid, very yellow, but not overly lemony. Not my kind of curd. Then there's the more pricey stuff, in a smaller jar; a good, gloopy consistency which has a lemony tanginess to it, but doesn't last long...
But in all honesty, lemon curd is SO easy to make, just do it yourself. Over the years, I've honed my lemon curd recipe and the resulting yumminess is just like my Grandma's lemon curd was. And today, I'm sharing my recipe with all of you!
Ingredients
3 eggs
1 egg yolk (I like saving the white to make a meringue - waste not!)
125g caster sugar
Zest of x3 lemons (make sure you don't grate too far in to the rind)
120ml lemon juice (3 lemons should more than make that)
1 pinch salt
125g butter
Method
Prepare a saucepan with a little water in the bottom with a glass bowl suspended above the water level.
Zest and juice the lemons, and cube the butter and set aside.
Put the eggs, sugar and salt in to the glass bowl over a low heat and stir until well blended.
Add the lemon juice/zest mix and continually stir with a wooden spoon or spatula.
Once the mixture begins to coat the back of the spoon, continue to cook over a low simmer for 5 minutes and continue to stir.
Remove from the heat and quickly add the butter, keep stirring until all of the butter has disappeared and the mixture is smooth.
Decant the curd in to a sterilised jam jar (this recipe is enough for 1 Kilner jam jar) and set aside to cool.
Don't put the lid on yet! Instead, just cover the top of the curd with some clingfilm to prevent a film forming.
10. Once completely cooled, lid it, and refrigerate....or just eat.
And that's it!!
Just a note - this is a lemony lemon curd, but if you don't like your lemon curd super lemony, just add a little less zest and juice to the mixture - it will make the curd slightly thicker, but still good.
I recommend adding this to the top of a lemon cupcake - you can find my recipe here
Enjoy squeezing!
TBD x