Lemon Curd

Lemon curd is not hard to make from scratch! The reward is a spread that is smooth, creamy, sweet and deliciously tart yet sweet citrus flavour.

My lemon curd recipe is quite classic in how it is made, heating eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar and butter until they have thickened and are silky smooth. However, there is a little trick that makes all the difference and that is how you add the butter.

In most recipes, all the ingredients are mixed together and then heated until they thickened. In my recipe, the butter is added last, when all the other ingredients have been combined and heated. Melting the butter in the warm lemon curd gives a silky smooth finish that tastes just amazing.

You might wonder if lemon curd can be made without zest. The answer is yes, but the curd will taste so much better if you use both the juice and zest. When the lemon curd cooled, it will lost some of the lemon flavour. Besides lacking of flavour, it also lacking in colour. It's still yellow but is much less vibrant than curd which includes the zest. 

Ingredients:

• 4 egg yolks
• 135g sugar
• 60g unsalted butter
• 2 tsp grated lemon zest
• 100ml lemon juice

Method:

Whisk egg yolks and sugar until well combined but not frothy.

Tip into a heavy-based pan. Add zest and juice..

Stir constantly, bring to simmering point over a medium-high heat for about 4-5 minutes.

As soon as bubbles appear, remove from heat. Add in the butter and continue stirring until the butter melted and blended into the curd. Allow to cool.

Transfer to sterilised jar and seal