meyer lemon curd

January 17, 2012

Growing up my sister absolutely adored lemon curd. My mum would buy boxes of mini lemon curd tarts for her to take to school in her lunchbox every single day.

I wasn’t head over heels for straight up lemon curd as a child although I was always partial to a slice of lemon tart. However my grown up taste buds LOVE this stuff – as they love all things citrus – and really, what’s not to love?

If you’ve never experienced lemon curd (which I admit has a bit of a funny sounding name) you’re in for a real treat. And contrary to my expectations, it is incredibly easy to make.

What you’ll end up with is a thick, tangy-sweet, incredibly yellow, very lemony preserve perfect for spreading on toast or a good hunk of bread, or for pouring into a pie crust for a killer lemon curd tart.

I looked at a bunch of different recipes – David Lebovitz’s seems to be popular – but I really liked Nigel Slater‘s. Since Meyer lemons tend to be much sweeter than conventional lemons I reduced the amount of sugar here but it’s still wonderfully sweet – so much so that I can’t seem to stop taking giant finger-swipes from the jar. Addictive to say the least.

Meyer Lemon Curd
from Nigel Slater via The Guardian

Ingredients

  • zest and juice of 4 unwaxed Meyer lemons (if using regular lemons, increase the sugar to 200g)
  • 160g sugar
  • 100g butter, cut into cubes
  • 3 eggs and 1 egg yolk, mixed gently with a fork

Directions

  1. Set a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, being careful that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Place the lemon zest and juice, sugar and butter into the heatproof bowl. Stir with a whisk from time to time until the butter has melted.
  2. Stir the eggs and egg yolk into the lemon mixture. Let the curd cook, stirring regularly, for about 10 minutes, until it is thick and custard-like. It should feel heavy on the whisk.
  3. Remove from the heat and stir occasionally as it cools. Pour into very clean jam jars (mason jars) and seal. It will keep for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator. Makes 2 small jam jars.
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