Lemon Curd

As I mentioned in yesterdays post, I scored some Meyer Lemons.  They are the juicest of all lemons.  I wish you could cradle one in your hand and feel the sheer squishiness of it.  Just a little squeeze and you instantly know that this lemon promises you lots of juice.  I was afraid if I squeezed to hard it would burst and all that lemon juice would spring from it like Old Faithful.  So with a delicate but firm hand, I made some Lemon Curd. 

I found this recipe on Food network , it’s Lemon Curd by Ina Gartin.  The only modification I made to this recipe was using Meyer Lemons.

Ingredients

3 lemons

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 stick butter, room temperature

4 extra large eggs 

1/2 c. lemon juice (3 or 4 lemons)

1/8 tsp kosher salt

Directions

Using a carrot peeler, remove the zest of 3 lemons, being careful to avoid the white pith.

 Put the zest in a food processor fitted with the steel blade.

(Notice I did not completely miss the pith, a draw back to the Meyer Lemons is the thin skin)

 Add the sugar,

 and pulse until the zest is very finely minced into the sugar.

 Cream the butter,

and beat in the sugar and lemon mixture.  OMG I am such a lemon head!  I realized that I forgot to picture the eggs.

Ta Da….the eggs.

Then beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Seriously?  I’m really I am such a lemon head!  I was supposed to cream the sugar/lemon mixture with the butter first.

Oh well, I’ll make it work. 

 Now, I’m adding the sugar/lemon mixture.

 and beat until well mixed 

Juice the lemons.  It took exactly 3 Meyer Lemons to make a 1/2 c juice.

Add the lemon juice

and the kosher salt (see my exact measurement). 

Pour the mixture into a saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened.  Ina’s recipe says about 10 minutes, it took me 20 minutes. 

 10 minutes in I was at 150°, I was stirring frequently but not constantly

 then magical things started to happen, now I started stirring almost constantly.

By 20 minutes the thermometer was up to 170° and it had thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon

(a great way to tell if its done when you don’t have a candy thermometer) 

Let cool and store in the refrigerator.

What the heck do you use lemon curd for anyways?  How about a trifle, or in a pie, as a dip for fruit or my personal favorite,

spread on scones (recipe coming soon).