I love Lemon Curd. The combination of tart and sweet is absolutely addictive. The very first taste is joyous, and the feeling just spreads throughout the body. You cannot feel bad eating a good lemon curd.

A good curd can be spread on biscuits, or toasted apple bread, as a filling for tarts, as a swirl in ice cream, or as a layer in cakes. Combine it with whipped cream, and you have a lovely mousse. I am certain you will find many other applications for this beautiful sauce.

I am providing three variations on a basic lemon curd. The recipes can easily be halved, increased by 50%, or doubled because it is a basic ratio. Each produces a slightly different texture and flavor. I hope you find a favorite here.

Our Favorite Lemon Curd

This curd is tart and creamy. Combining the yolks and sugar and allowing to rest starts to melt the sugar before cooking. Whisking together the yolks and sugar until light and pale in color, and vigorously whisking in the butter will produce a very light, almost airy texture.

1 c Blonde Sugar

8 Egg Yolks

1 c Lemon Juice

1 tsp Lemon Zest

Dash Salt

8 tbls Butter, Cubed

Useful Items: 2qt. Saucepan, Whisk, Microplane, Juicer

Mise en place

Combine Sugar and Yolks in mixing bowl and whisk until pale yellow. Let rest for 5 minutes. Add Juice and Zest to Egg&Sugar mixture. Whisk together and pour into saucepan.

Over medium heat: Whisk continuously until thick, making sure you press the whisk into the corner of the pan, to fully incorporate all the sauce, and avoid clumps. You will be able to feel the mixture thickening as you are stirring it. You want the mixture to hold form when moving the whisk through the sauce, and stream off your whisk when you lift it. This can take anywhere between 12-18 minutes.

Do not be afraid to turn the heat down if it looks like it is getting to hot (too much steam coming off the sauce, you can feel a layer developing on the bottom of the pan), or slide your pan partially off the heat. Your biggest concern is overheating the eggs and scrambling them. My tendency is to remove sauces too early, because I actually tear up when they break. It gives me The Bad Feels. The curd will not set up as firmly if removed early, but the flavor will still be there.

After curd has thickened: Remove pan from heat. While whisking continually: Add dash of salt, and cubes of butter, fully incorporating bits of butter before adding new ones. I like to cube my butter into 6 per tablespoon: Cut in half lengthwise, Quarter turn, Cut in thirds lengthwise. This produces 6 cubes per tablespoon of stick butter. I use this for all sauces and baking. I like the size of the cubes for the way it incorporates in recipes. It seems that I generally toss in three small cubes, one after another, during this stage, until all is incorporated.

Pour finished curd mixture into container(s), and cover surface with wrap until chilled, then pop on container cover. Using the wrap until chilled eliminates evaporating moisture from collecting on the surface of the curd. You can also just leave the cover cracked to allow evaporation to occur. There will just be some condensation on the lid, and possibly a thin film on the curd, but this will not affect flavor, and if you skim off the surface, will not affect texture. It is best if you let it chill overnight, but your first batch probably won't last that long. If this is your first time making curd, it really is very exciting to taste the variances at different stages of the cooling process.

Variations: Substitute 2/3 c Orange Juice + 1/3 c Lemon Juice and mixture of Orange/Lemon Zest for a delicious Orange Curd. Mix any combination of citrus juices and zests together for 1 cup to create a Citrus Curd. This can be applied to the following recipes.

Tart Lemon Curd

This curd is tarter than Our Favorite, and the texture is 'coarser', from the additional zest. The use of the whole egg, and combining all ingredients in saucepan produces a noticeably richer feeling curd than Our Favorite. This variation works well as a filling for sponge cakes and cupcakes, or anywhere you want a bold flavor curd.

1 c Sugar

6 Eggs

1 c Lemon Juice

Lemon Zest from all lemons juiced

Dash Salt

8 tbls Butter, Cubed

Useful Items: 2qt. Saucepan, Whisk, Microplane, Juicer

Mise en place

Combine Sugar, Eggs, Juice and Zest in saucepan.

Over medium heat, after mixture has fully warmed, while whisking continually: Add dash of salt, and cubes of butter, fully incorporating bits of butter before adding new ones. I like to cube my butter into 6 per tablespoon: Cut in half lengthwise, Quarter turn, Cut in thirds lengthwise. This produces 6 cubes per tablespoon of stick butter. I use this for all sauces and baking. I like the size of the cubes for the way it incorporates in recipes.

Make sure you press the whisk into the corner of the pan while cooking, to fully incorporate all the sauce and avoid clumps. You will be able to feel the mixture thickening as you are stirring it. You want the mixture to hold form when moving the whisk through the sauce, and stream off your whisk when you lift it. This can take anywhere between 12-20 minutes.

Do not be afraid to turn the heat down if it looks like it is getting to hot (too much steam coming off the sauce, you can feel a layer developing on the bottom of the pan), or slide your pan partially off the heat. Your biggest concern is overheating the eggs and scrambling them.

Pour finished curd mixture into container(s), and cover surface with wrap until chilled, then pop on container cover. Using the wrap until chilled eliminates evaporating moisture from collecting on the surface of the curd from the underside of the container lid. You can also just leave the cover cracked to allow evaporation to occur. There will just be some condensation on the lid, and possibly a thin film on the curd, but this will not affect flavor, and if you skim off the surface, will not affect texture. It is best if you let it chill overnight.

Silky Lemon Curd

This curd is very silky, and a little 'eggy', with a rich lemon taste. There is no zest added to this curd. This is very good as a sauce, as a custard with a little whipped cream, or as a swirl in an ice cream before setting to freeze.

1 c Blonde Sugar

8 Eggs

1 c Lemon Juice

8 tbls Butter, Cubed

Useful Items: 2qt. Saucepan, Whisk, Microplane, Juicer

Mise en place

Combine Sugar and Yolks in mixing bowl and whisk until pale yellow. Let rest for 5 minutes. Add Juice to Egg&Sugar mixture. Whisk together and pour into saucepan.

Over medium heat, after mixture has fully warmed, while whisking continually: Add cubes of butter, fully incorporating bits of butter before adding new ones. I like to cube my butter into 6 per tablespoon: Cut in half lengthwise, Quarter turn, Cut in thirds lengthwise. This produces 6 cubes per tablespoon of stick butter. I use this for all sauces and baking. I like the size of the cubes for the way it incorporates in recipes.

Make sure you press the whisk into the corner of the pan while cooking, to fully incorporate all the sauce and avoid clumps. You will be able to feel the mixture thickening as you are stirring it. You want the mixture to hold form when moving the whisk through the sauce, and stream off your whisk when you lift it. This can take anywhere between 12-20 minutes.

Do not be afraid to turn the heat down if it looks like it is getting to hot (too much steam coming off the sauce, you can feel a layer developing on the bottom of the pan), or slide your pan partially off the heat. Your biggest concern is overheating the eggs and scrambling them.

Pour finished curd mixture into container(s), and cover surface with wrap until chilled, then pop on container cover. Using the wrap until chilled eliminates evaporating moisture from collecting on the surface of the curd from the underside of the container lid. You can also just leave the cover cracked to allow evaporation to occur. There will just be some condensation on the lid, and possibly a thin film on the curd, but this will not affect flavor, and if you skim off the surface, will not affect texture. It is best if you let it chill overnight.

That's it! It is a simple little recipe that will absolutely bring you joy. I will soon be posting recipes for tarts and Angel Food Cake, which include lemon curd.

Cheers.