One of our favourite things in life is making something and bottling it! Today we had way too many eggs from the hens and one of the best ways of using up so many is to make lemon curd. It’s perfect for cake fillings, puddings & ice cream. Thick, sharp and lusciously lemony, it’s the best on hot buttered toast on a summer’s morning!
So here’s what you need:
150g butter
250g sugar
4 eggs + one yolk
5 lemons grated zest and juice
3-4 sterilised jars with good sealing lids – old jam jars are fine, just make sure they’re clean and dry
Before you start, put your jars int the oven set to 160C and keep here for 30 mins, this will sterilise them, there’s other ways, like dishwasher or microwave etc.. but I find this fits in with timing of this method.
We like our lemon curd to be tart, so if sharp’s not to your taste just one less lemon.
So here’s how we do it!
Butter and sugar in a large bowl.
Zest the lemons: I use a combination of a fine grater and also a zester to get some chunky texture into the mix. Squeeze all the juice from the lemons and add to the sugar and butter
Break eggs into a separate bowl, an extra yolk gives more richness to the curd. If you have hens like us, then a double yolker is always a bonus as it saves having a single white left over! Bonus!
Now, traditionally, you should gently melt the sugar and butter over a double boiler of simmering water and gradually mix in the eggs… Nah, we follow the Women’s Institute on this one – use the microwave its far quicker and results are just as fabulous! If it’s fine by the lovely ladies at the WI then it’s fine with me!
Melt the butter and sugar with the lemon zest and juice. Whisk the eggs up and gradually add to the melted butter mix.
From here you can pop into the microwave in 20-30 sec blasts and whisk in between. I’ve grown fairly confident with this now and whack it in for almost a minute, give it a whisk and repeat. The whole process only takes about 5 mins to thicken!
To make a spoonable curd, it should feel custardy and stick to the back of your spoon. This is a fairly thick mix that I’ve made here, so will easily stick to your knife when you’re spreading on your butties. Remember that as the curd cools it will become much thicker.
Use a jam funnel and ladle if you have them to fill your jars, seal and label and that’s it! As lemon curd is fairly unstable it’s best to keep in the fridge, it doesn’t last for long. One reason why the recipe is for such a small batch. But we eat it so quickly it doesn’t have a chance of being forgotten about at the back of the fridge. It really it the best lemon curd you’ll ever taste .. no more shop bought stuff I promise you!
Lemon curd
Delicious Lemon Curd
One of our favourite things in life is making something and bottling it! Today we had way too many eggs from the hens and one of the best ways of using up so many is to make lemon curd. It’s perfect for cake fillings, puddings & ice cream. Thick, sharp and lusciously lemony, it’s the best on hot buttered toast on a summer’s morning!
So here’s what you need:
150g butter
250g sugar
4 eggs + one yolk
5 lemons grated zest and juice
3-4 sterilised jars with good sealing lids – old jam jars are fine, just make sure they’re clean and dry
Before you start, put your jars int the oven set to 160C and keep here for 30 mins, this will sterilise them, there’s other ways, like dishwasher or microwave etc.. but I find this fits in with timing of this method.
We like our lemon curd to be tart, so if sharp’s not to your taste just one less lemon.
So here’s how we do it!
Butter and sugar in a large bowl.
Zest the lemons: I use a combination of a fine grater and also a zester to get some chunky texture into the mix. Squeeze all the juice from the lemons and add to the sugar and butter
Break eggs into a separate bowl, an extra yolk gives more richness to the curd. If you have hens like us, then a double yolker is always a bonus as it saves having a single white left over! Bonus!
Now, traditionally, you should gently melt the sugar and butter over a double boiler of simmering water and gradually mix in the eggs… Nah, we follow the Women’s Institute on this one – use the microwave its far quicker and results are just as fabulous! If it’s fine by the lovely ladies at the WI then it’s fine with me!
Melt the butter and sugar with the lemon zest and juice. Whisk the eggs up and gradually add to the melted butter mix.
From here you can pop into the microwave in 20-30 sec blasts and whisk in between. I’ve grown fairly confident with this now and whack it in for almost a minute, give it a whisk and repeat. The whole process only takes about 5 mins to thicken!
To make a spoonable curd, it should feel custardy and stick to the back of your spoon. This is a fairly thick mix that I’ve made here, so will easily stick to your knife when you’re spreading on your butties. Remember that as the curd cools it will become much thicker.
Use a jam funnel and ladle if you have them to fill your jars, seal and label and that’s it! As lemon curd is fairly unstable it’s best to keep in the fridge, it doesn’t last for long. One reason why the recipe is for such a small batch. But we eat it so quickly it doesn’t have a chance of being forgotten about at the back of the fridge. It really it the best lemon curd you’ll ever taste .. no more shop bought stuff I promise you!