LEMON CURD

a delicious bowl of lemon curd

I was making meringues and I needed to use up the egg yolks...and lemon curd was on my list of "things I want to make".  Seemed like a good pairing!  Now, lots of recipes use the whole egg...but I was not seeking those.  Alton Brown's Lemon Curd was yolk based AND had 5 stars from readers.  That was the one I decided to go with.

I love lemon curd in an eyes-roll-back-in-the-head kind of way.  I can scoop up a spoonful and, when prepared well, it is like manna from heaven!  I don't know why I've never made it myself.  I tend to buy it in the jar.  I've never eaten it on a biscuit, which is commonly shown in photographs.  I love it in a little tart shell, in a mini meringue, in a pie...but most commonly eaten straight from the jar on a spoon!  So, fingers crossed, here I go!

LEMON CURD
From FoodNetwork.com courtesy of Alton Brown

Ingredients

• 5 egg yolks
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 lemons, zested and juiced
• 1 stick butter, cut into pats and chilled

Ingredients ready to go

Directions

Add enough water to a medium saucepan to come about 1-inch up the side. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
Meanwhile, combine egg yolks and sugar in a medium size metal bowl and whisk until smooth, about 1 minute. (it lightens considerably)

sugar and egg yolks stirred together

sugar and egg yolks 1 minute later

Measure citrus juice and if needed, add enough cold water to reach 1/3 cup.
Add juice and zest to egg mixture and whisk smooth.

adding zest and lemon juice

lemon juice and zest incorporated into sugar and yolks

Once water reaches a simmer, reduce heat to low and place bowl on top of saucepan. (Bowl should be large enough to fit on top of saucepan without touching the water.)

placed over simmering pan of water

Whisk until thickened, approximately 8 minutes,

Almost there!

or until mixture is light yellow and coats the back of a spoon.

Perfect!

Remove promptly from heat and stir in butter a piece at a time, allowing each addition to melt before adding the next.

Whisking in butter 1 pat at a time

Last bit of butter is whisked and melted - looks done to me!

Remove to a clean container and cover by laying a layer of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

A perfect container of lemon curd :-)

I've gotten in the habit of labeling and dating my refrigerator items with post-it labels

OK people...jarred lemon curd is okay...even quite good.  This stuff is GREAT.  I licked the bowl and the last bits and it was an eye roller with no doubt. 

The Cook's Portion...dayum...that's good stuff!

This is like the very best EVER.  <sigh>  I need a moment.

OK - new thing on the list of "hey that's not so hard" that I will try to make instead of buying.  It's got to be cheaper than the lemon curd I buy at the store...which is quite expensive.

Spooning some of this into a little mini tart and topping with a dollop of meringue and finishing off with the blow torch is, in my opinion, the epitome of yummy desserts. 

Make this. You will NOT regret it!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!