Lemon Curd





Little Miss Muffet

Ate The WRONG Kinda

Curds!







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Fresh lemon curd cooling to go into the frig



A number of posts ago, I put up my own, special scones recipe and intended to post my favorite lemon curd recipe shortly thereafter. As good intentions usually go, mine disappeared into the oblivion of a ‘To Do List’.


Does anyone ever really do what’s on their ‘To Do List”? I mean, my list grows to at least three pages and then I see something on page three that should have gone onto page one and the next thing I know, the list is in the trash and I’m digging around for something to eat. I know. You’re supposed to just list the most pressing items in the manner of “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” However, I’ve never even thought about eating an elephant and I’m not all that good at determining which is pressing, which is nagging and which is “get it done now or the IRS is coming to put you under a bright light for interrogation!!” And so my list grows exponentially and I get sidetracked. I’m easily diverted.

Take for example, today, while working in the garden. I had a mental “To Do List” that was at least five pages long and I decided to tackle #2 on page four – weed the onions. We’ve had some good rain and a really strange grass has grown up for the first time ever in my onion rows. My onions have been coughing and gasping for help and so I felt that this might be a “pressing” matter. I began weeding and had that wonderful sensation of accomplishing something as foot after foot of dark, rich dirt became exposed and completely clean around my Texas 1015’s. I had finished row two when a bright red color caught my eye. Two beds over, more raspberries were ripe! Oh! And blueberries too. I had to go get a bag to pick them and left my other rows of onions helplessly begging me to please continue the weeding. Ignoring them, I picked berries, sneaking a lucious bite on occassion, and finally headed in to wash them and get them laid out onto cookie sheets for freezing.


As I patted the raspberries and blueberries dry, they made me think of making jam, which made me think of things on which to put jam, which made me think of scones, which made me think of lemon curd which reminded me that I had not posted my favorite recipe. Add to that, a gentle reminder from one of my readers to post it or else (actually, it was my sister-in-law but she’s a reader), and lemon curd went to the top of my ‘To Do List’ that really doesn’t exist. And so, the onions have been left for another day. Hopefully, you are more disciplined than I, but I have to say, it’s not so bad. Mr. Fix-It says that I wake up each day to a whole new world. That’s good, right?


Lemon Curd

  • 3 large Eggs
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (no bottled)
  • 4 Tblsp butter cut into cubes( 1/2 stick)
  • 1 Tblsp fresh lemon zest
  • VARIATIONS: Substitute Lime juice and lime zest or raspberry juice and 1 tbsp crushed raspberries or concentrated orange juice and orange zest


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    I have a double-boiler and you can use one if you like, but I like to use a shallow stainless steel bowl over a pan of boiling water in which to make my curd. It makes it easier to whisk the entire area of curd without having to deal with the side crevices of a pan. This gives me a much smoother curd that does not have to be strained for lumps.


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    Place three large eggs into the bowl or double boiler


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    Add 3/4 cup of sugar


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    And 1/3 cup of lemon juice


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    Just as a hint, I buy my lemons in bulk when on sale and juice them all, freezing the juice in ice cube trays. I pop them out and store them in the freezer in bags. I freeze the leftover rinds for easier zesting. This is one recipe where my dehydrated lemon zest is just not as good. I melt the frozen juice in the microwave




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    Place bowl over boiling water and immediately begin whisking


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    Continually stir with the whisk and do not let the curd stand idle at all in order to keep from getting lumpy


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    The curd will begin to thicken to the consistency of thin pudding. This takes about 7 -10 minutes. If your curd gets lumpy, you can strain it through a strainer.


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    Remove from heat and immediately add butter


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    Stir until melted


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    Add lemon zest and stir in


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    Pour into a container and allow to cool. Place in frig. If you do not plan on eating all of the curd right away, you can pour it into ice cube trays or small refrigerator dishes to be frozen. Remove from freezer and allow to thaw about 20 minutes before serving.


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    There is just nothing like lemon curd on scones. Here, I am serving our Victorian House Scones made with 1/2 cup white chocolate chips and 1/2 cup Craisins added. The Victorian House scones are wonderful to keep on hand when you don’t have time to make them from scratch. One package makes 16 large scones. Check them out at the shopping page.




    Happy Cooking!



    MB
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    15 Responses to “



    Lemon Curd

    1. Hawkeye says:

      Hi Mary Beth,

      Sorry I haven’t been here in awhile. I’ve been so involved with my new job here in TN, and trying to sell my house in NJ, that I haven’t had time for much of anything else. I just love your recipes, and this one is no exception. Keep up the good work and don’t worry about getting side-tracked. I do it all the time myself. There are just so many things one can do in a day, and if you never stray from your initial agenda, you become a slave.

      Besides, better to enjoy blueberries than to pick weeds, eh?

      (:D) Best regards…

    2. Hi there Hawkeye!!! So glad to hear from you. Definitely better picking blueberries than weeds. And boy do we have a crop this year. It’s awesome. Raspberries and grapes too! Glad you are enjoying the recipes! You gotta try this one with the scones recipe!

      Hope your job is going as hoped and that you love Tennessee as much as I did. 🙂

    3. It is!! I’ve used this for years with our scones, but now I’m thinking about using it in the tarts that are posted at the end of the blog post titled, “Pi R Squared”. I think it would be awesome.

    4. annette says:

      “Variety is the spice of life.” That’s what I tell my DH when he trades me about being 1/4 into one project, and on to three more.(I too am extremely easily distracted.) Hey, if you hadn’t picked berries instead of weeds, we wouldn’t have gotten to read this Lenin curd post!! So here’s to getting distracted. We don’t need to eat any elephants anyways! Hugs, MB. Your blog continues to be an absolute favorite of mine. An absolute joy to read, and a hoot to boot!

    5. Well, thank you sooo much, Annette!! That makes my day.

    6. Pamela says:

      Looking forward to some blueberry scones at our next family gathering. And if you need any help eating, I mean picking, them just give your ole’ sis-in-law a holler. 😉 Yes, this is an absolutely delicious topping for scones, but I think it will also make a fantastic filling for the lemon cake I am baking tonight for my aunt and uncle’s anniversary tomorrow. Thank you sooooo much for remembering to post it and I will take credit for jogging your memory to do so. Already got my mind to thinking about what else I’d like recipes for. There are so many choices. Hmm…
      By the way, if you are fresh out of scones, a big spoon works too. I just verified that. Yum!!!!

    7. Oh yes, lemon curd makes a wonderful topping for big spoons!! Have tried that myself.

      The blueberries are being picked and I’m thinking about a blueberry coffee cake for in the morning!! Raspberries are in too and I’m making jam and trying a raspberry vinaigrette dressing too! Yum is right. 🙂

    8. Lacey says:

      This is your new friend in east TX. You had me cracking up! Your story reminded me of that book I read the kids When You Give a Moose a Muffin. Sorry, dear, but you were the moose in your story. Thank you for the humor. I do the same thing with lists. And, somehow you end up in an area of the house or yard you never should have ended up working in! I still have berries running out my ears. Down here things seem to take way longer in the dehydrator. My blueberries were in there for over 24 hours and probably need more time added this morning.

    9. Glad I gave somebody a laugh. I suppose that is my goal in life! 🙂 Just wondering, did you blanch your blueberries first? Or poke a hole in the skin? That makes them dry faster, more evenly and not crackly dry, but chewy dry.

    10. Teresa says:

      That sounds like a great recipe. I truly agree about that to-do list growing daily.

    11. Be sure and try it, Teresa! It’s wonderful. And I’m giving up on To-Do lists….I figure life should be flexible. 🙂

    12. […] Lemond Curd makes a beautiful gift to include with dessert mixes. My recipe and directions for Lemon Curd can be found here. Just make up a couple of batches and jump in below: Once lemon curd is made, […]

    13. Penny says:

      The other day I was reading a book and they talked about lemon curd, and I remembered you had the recipe on your blog, thanks, I think I will give it a shot as soon as lemons come back in season…

    14. You will love it, Penny!!