It’s an easy recipe that requires just a bit of whisking to create a beautiful, golden curd that screams Spring and Summer. This recipe works great with cookies, cheesecake, pancakes, waffles, cupcakes, biscuits, scones, yogurt, ice cream…the options are endless. This recipe is straightforward and has just 4 ingredients: fresh lemons (and zest), sugar, eggs, and salted butter. What you will end up with is the most satisfyingly sweet and tangy, lemony filling with the perfect tangy zing for cakes and cookies and all of us lemon lovers will be in heaven! Oh, and when you are stirring the ingredients on the stove for 25 minutes you will get in a good arm workout too!
What is Lemon Curd?
Lemon curd is a creamy mixture made from lemon juice, sugar, eggs and butter. The ingredients are cooked together until the mixture thickens. When cooled, the lemon curd becomes thick enough to spread and is used as a topping for a variety of desserts and breads. You can make curd from plenty of juices and fruits like oranges, limes, raspberries, strawberries, mangoes, cranberries, etc.
Why This Recipe Works
This recipe makes a big batch (2 cups) so you have leftovers for several other recipes. Makes for easy clean up since this is just a one pot recipe! It stores really well in the refrigerator. It’s homemade! No artificial ingredients or thickeners added.
Lemons: You’ll need about 5-6 lemons to get 1 cup of freshly-squeezed lemon juice, plus 1 Tbsp. of lemon zest. Eggs: I like using the whole egg, both the whites and yolk for the best flavor and consistency. Some recipes only use for yolks for a rich lemon curd. Sugar: Sugar helps to balance the sweet and tart flavors. Granulated sugar is best, and it is not recommended to use brown sugar, coconut sugar or any other sweetener because it will change the consistency and overall end product. Feel free to use less sugar for a more tart lemon curd. Butter: I prefer using salted butter so you don’t have to add any salt to the recipe. But if you only have unsalted butter, add 1/4 tsp. fine salt to the curd to balance the flavors. The butter helps give the curd a velvety smooth mouthfeel.
