Lemon Curd

My mother in law has this fabulous lemon tree in her backyard. Most years, it produces more lemons than we know what to do with! So we decided we needed to get creative with ways to cook them. We came up with lemon curd. If you've never heard of this before, it's almost like a honey like consistency, but thicker and easy to spread. And it's delicious! I recently made blueberry pankcakes, and I used lemon curd instead of butter and syrup, and it was heavenly. We found this recipe from the Barefoot Contessa, but I've added step by step directions for your convenience.  Here's what you'll need: 

3 Lemons

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1/ pound unsalted butter, room temperature

4 extra large eggs

1/2 cup lemon juice 

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

First, scrub your lemons

Using a carrot peeler, remove the zest of the 3 lemons, being careful to avoid the white pith.

Put the zest in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the sugar and pulse until the zest is very finely minced into the sugar.

Juice your lemons.

Cream the butter and beat in the sugar and lemon mixture. 

Add the eggs one at a time, then add the lemon juice and salt. Mix until combined. 

Pour the mixture into a 2 quart saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened. (The recipe says this takes 10 minuets, but it took me 45 minuets of stirring...It's going to look very scary and curdled at first, hence the name, but keep stirring! You will not be disappointed!)

The lemon curd will thicken at about 170 degrees F, or just below simmer (I used a kitchen thermometer). Remove from the heat and cool or refrigerate. 

Final product! Like I said before, I loved it on pancakes. I have also spread on toast, and it was especially yummy on crackers with goat cheese. The possibilities are endless! 

Enjoy!

xo Jac