Friends who share their Meyer lemons with me might receive lemon pound cake or lemon bars but most likely they will be the recipients of my lemon curd. I’ve always made lemon curd with the same recipe from Chez Panisse but today I tried a new method and it was kinda cool! It starts off like making a cake. So today it was Chez Patty with a recipe from finecooking.com. I always double or triple the recipe to make a large batch but I’m going to give the original recipe which yields 2 cups.
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar for about 2 minutes. Slowly add the eggs and yolks. Beat for 1 minute. Mix in the lemon juice. The mixture will look curdled, but it will smooth out as it cooks.
2. In a heavy saucepan or dutch oven, cook the mixture over low heat until it looks smooth. (The curdled appearance disappears as the butter melts.) Cook and stir constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 15 minutes. It should leave a path on the back of a spoon and will read 170°F on a thermometer. Don’t let the mixture boil.
3. Remove the curd from the heat; stir in the lemon zest. Transfer the curd to a bowl. Press plastic wrap on the surface of the lemon curd to keep a skin from forming and chill the curd in the refrigerator. The curd will thicken further as it cools. Covered tightly, it will keep in the refrigerator for a week. Spoon the lemon curd into small jars to give away. It’s good on scones, toasted English muffins, shortbread, or just plain out of the jar.
Patty's Food 