Yield: about 2 1/2 cups
Recipe: 35/200
“Back to Baking”, pp. 181
If you read my previous post, you will know that I am not a big fan of custard or similar textures. I have however learned to be more open-minded about custard since I actually quite enjoyed it in the classic fruit-flan tart I made a while back. I needed to make this particular recipe because I was making the lemon cake for mother’s day. This recipe looked pretty straightforward. Whisk the ingredients together, whisk over a water bath and then whisk in the butter. A nice 20 minutes. However, I don’t know what happened but my curd took almost an hour to make! Maybe it is because I was using a ceramic bowl instead of a metal bowl as recommended (I wouldn’t think that would be the cause) or perhaps because I wasn’t whisking as constantly as I could have, but after an hour my custard had still not thickened enough to form a ribbon. I decided it was enough anyways and, after straining it and adding the butter, put it in the fridge to chill for 2 hours. I was worried that it wouldn’t set since it wasn’t (or so I thought) cooked enough, but it was definitely very well set and had the undeniable texture of curd. It looked shiny and tasted very lemony, which is ideal since it is a lemon curd after all.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 cup fresh lemon juice
- 4 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
Directions:
- In a large metal bowl, whisk together the sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, egg yolks and whole eggs to combine the ingredients.
- Place the bowl over a water bath of simmering water. Gently whisk until the curd thickens and is able to form a ribbon when the whisk is lifted, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Strain the curd into a bowl.
- Add the butter and whisk until melted completely. Chill the curd in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or until set.
Valerie
Valerie 