Lemon Curd: Second Edition

Oh lemon curd...how much do I love you? Too much. Too too much.

Does anybody know how to stop me from spooning lemon curd directly into my mouth? Help!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup lemon juice--about 4 lemons
Zest of 3 lemons
200g sugar
100g butter
3 eggs
2 egg yolks

Zest the lemons onto the sugar in a pot. Rub zest into sugar to form plump grains--this is from Pierre Herme's Lemon Cream recipe.

Add the butter and melt stove-top.

Pour the juice in.

Whisk in the eggs and egg yolks one by one.

Cook on medium-to-low heat, stirring constantly, until thick enough to leave a trail. Don't worry about any egg coagulation--you'll get rid of it in the next step.

Cool a little, then sieve into containers.

Store in fridge.

Notes:

Doesn't taste very much different from my previous batch. This is not a bad thing as the last batch was pretty darn good.

Seems thicker--will find out tomorrow.

The last time, I made it, I added the butter after it cooled because this supposedly makes for a silkier curd. I don't think that's the case.

I wouldn't squeeze out that last bit of curd when you're sieveing it. You'll like 'grate' the coagulated bits of egg, and ruin the silky-smooth texture of the cake.

It makes quite a lot, certainly enough to fill several 9 inch cakes with plenty to spare.

When you bake it, it really sets up. But it's not liquid enough to smoothen out on its own, ie if you dollop it in, there will be peaks and stuff.

Lemon Curd: First Edition

I was going to make Pierre Herme's lemon cream, and go the whole hog with 10.5 ounces butter. But I chickened out. I looked at other recipes and most of them are 1-2 ounces butter max for roughly the same amount.

This is a combination of the half a dozen recipes I have.

Ingredients

Zest of 2 lemons
3/8 cup lemon juice--1/4 and 2 tablespoons, or to make it easier, 90g
100g sugar
60g butter
2 eggs

Prepare a bain-marie.

I rubbed the zest into the sugar, then poured the juice in before whisking in the eggs. Do this in a heatproof bowl, preferably stainless steel, because the next step is:

Set the bowl over the pot of boiling water and continue whisking until it is thick enough to coat a spoon.

Remove from heat and cool in a icebath--you could just leave it at room temperature, but it's quicker this way. Stir in the butter. Run through a sieve/chinois--this is important.

Bottle/Jar and store.

Notes:

I run it through the sieve after adding the butter because it is easier--before that, it's too viscous, IMHO, but I plan to try that as well.

This freezes quite well (tastes like sorbet frozen), so you can make larger batches--this one makes a very small batch--if you have a big enough bowl and pot for the bainmarie.