Obsession Tuesday...What's in a Name?

Ok so the good people of England could have perhaps thought through the naming of today's obsession a bit better...

I mean "Lemon Curd"...come on.  It sounds disgusting, off-putting even, enough to have you fleeing from your grocer's aisle at the very thought of it.  But lemon curd is oh so delicious and just a bit misunderstood.

For those of you terrified by the idea, allow me to enlighten you:

Lemon curd is actually a cousin of jam but generally made with a citrus fruit of some sort and gently cooked with eggs to make an intensely flavored spread.  It's often used on breakfast bread products and is an essential ingredient in any lemon-meringue pie worth its salt.

I prefer lemon curd made with the addition of butter as it is a bit creamier and not as intensely zippy as those spreads made without.  It's also incredibly easy to make yourself and you have the added bonus of knowing its not chalked full of preservatives and weird artificial flavorings.

This is my go to recipe for lemon curd and it can easily be altered with just about any other citrus juice you desire.  Try a little drizzle over vanilla ice cream with raspberries on a hot July day...you can thank me later.

Lemon Curd

What you'll need:

4 fluid oz. Lemon juice
6 1/2 oz. Granulated sugar
1 oz. Cornstarch
2 tsp. Lemon zest
2 to 3 eggs, fresh, whole
6 oz. unsalted butter, room temperature

What to do:


Combine the lemon juice, 3 oz. of the sugar, the cornstarch, and the zest in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

Place the eggs and remaining sugar in a bowl.  Mix well without aerating (that means no vigorous whisking folks, give the biceps a rest).

Temper* the eggs and remaining sugar with one quarter of the boiling juice.  Add the remaining juice and return to the stove.

Bring the mixture to a boil while whisking vigorously (oh biceps).  Continue mixing and boil for one minute.

Remove mixture from the heat and chill over an ice bath until the mixture reaches 120 F.

Add the butter in five parts, stirring well with a spatula after each addition.

Once butter is fully incorporated into the mixture place in lidded vessel (to prevent a skin from forming on top) and refrigerate.

This recipe yields a 1 lb. 6 oz. of lemon curd, that seems like a tremendous amount if you intend only to use it as a spread, so jar it up and share the wealth.  Otherwise it's a perfect amount for pie or tart filling.

*Ok a note on tempering; this is to prevent the eggs from curdling (I know, seems counterintuitive given the name of the recipe, but trust me you don't want chunks of scrambled eggs floating about in your otherwise perfectly delectable spread).  You'll need to slowly incorporate one quarter of the boiling juice into the rest of the egg and sugar mixture relatively slowly while whisking (ok now put those biceps into it!).  Then you'll be able to add the egg and sugar mixture into the rest of the hot mixture without ruining the overall texture of the product.