Lemon Curd

Many years ago when I saw jars of lemon curd in an English shop for the first time, I had no idea what it was and how it could be used. This type of a preserve simply wasn’t known in Poland at that time. Later I learnt lemon curd was a popular ingredient for an afternoon tea in England served with scones or as a filing for pastries. I also found out from my mother-in-law another way of using it but I will write about it in my next post ;)

Years passed by and lemon curd is available in some shops in Poland now but a few weeks ago when I needed it, I couldn’t find it anywhere. So I decided to give it a go and make it myself. I did a little research, found many recipes and at the end combined a few of them to create one pretty simple and 100% successful formula.

INGREDIENTS (for approx. 350ml):

2 eggs,

2 egg yolks,

165g caster sugar,

2 lemons, zest and juice,

80g cold butter, cut into a few pieces.

METHOD:

1. Take a heat-proof bowl and choose a saucepan that is the right size to securely put the bowl into it (there has to be a few cm gap between their bottoms).
2. Pour water to the saucepan (a few cm) and bring to boil.
3. Whisk the eggs, egg yolks and sugar in the bowl until the mixture is thick and pale.
4. Stir in the lemon zest and juice.
5. Put the bowl over the saucepan of boiling water, decrease the heat to medium and stir the mixture (at first often and after 3-4 minutes constantly) with a wooden spoon until it is thick (it will take approx. 5-7 minutes).
6. Remove the bowl from the saucepan, add the butter, one piece at a time and stir the mixture till it is smooth.
7. Strain through a sieve into a sterilized jar, cool down and put to a fridge.
8. It can be kept in the fridge up to a week.