I’ve grown to love the peace and solitude of the mornings. Now that we’ve put up our Christmas decorations, I especially look forward to getting up before the sun rises, drinking my coffee, and sitting under the glow of the lights from our tree. The mornings keep getting colder and the low temperatures seem to magnify my affection for these moments.
On the weekends, I obviously have more time to cherish these times and I like to savor something special for breakfast besides my standard cereal or oatmeal to celebrate the freedom from the daily grind. This lemon curd fits into that category. It helps cultivate my ongoing daydream of sitting in a French cafe with Ina Garten and her friends (and maybe even Jeffrey is there too, on leave from Yale) and we’re sipping espressos and planning our day. Ahhh…. I live a wild life.
But seriously, this lemon curd is delightfully tart and sweet and a little bit goes a long way. It goes very well with plain Greek yogurt or as a tasty addition to pancakes. It’s also a delicious in baked goods and I actually used the majority of this batch to make lemon curd cupcakes for a friend’s birthday (recipe coming next week!).
Enjoy your weekend, my friends. And don’t forget to take a few extra minutes to relax and sip your cup of coffee, with or without Ina on your mind.
Homemade Lemon Curd
Yield: 2 cups
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (7 oz) granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup (7 oz) fresh lemon juice, from roughly 8 lemons
- 3 eggs
- 3 egg yolks
- 9 tablespoons (4.5 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Directions
1. Whisk together the eggs and egg yolks in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.
2. Pour the lemon juice through sieve to ensure there are no seeds or pith remaining. Combine the lemon juice and sugar in a medium, heat-resistant bowl. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water (also known as a double boiler). Stir occasionally until the sugar fully dissolves.
3. Take the lemon juice mixture off the simmering water, but don’t turn off the stove or remove the pot. While whisking the eggs, slowly add in about 1/4 cup of the lemon juice to the egg mixture at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition. If you add the eggs all at once, you will end up with chunks of scrambled eggs. Not cool.
4. Next, put the bowl with the egg and lemon juice mixture back onto the double boiler. Whisk continually, for about 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to thicken. You’ll know it’s done when the curd coats the back a spoon and doesn’t slide right off.
5. Remove the curd from the heat and add in the butter. Whisk until smooth and no lumps of butter remains. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd and over the bowl so that a film doesn’t form on top of the curd while cooling. Place in the fridge for an hour to allow to cool completely. Store in the refrigerator.
Source: This very informative video from The BALSAMS Grand Resort Hotel (skip to 0:30 to avoid the intro)
