Korena in the Kitchen

  • Home
  • Recipes
  • About
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Recipes / Drinks & Condiments / Silky Lemon Curd

Silky Lemon Curd

February 17, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 17 Comments

Silky Lemon CurdAs mentioned in my previous post, I loves me some lemon. Lemon curd is one of my favorite things to spread on toast, dollop on scones, stir into plain Greek yogurt (or layer with granola in a dessert-for-breakfast parfait), or just eat straight off a spoon. It’s also darn good in a tart shell or as a Danish filling, which is the reason I came across this particular incarnation.

Greek yogurt, lemon curd, and granola parfait

One of the pain-in-the-butt aspects of lemon curd is that it usually requires being passed through a strainer in order to achieve that silky smooth texture, which is a messy process that always reminds me of this movie scene (skip to the 40 second mark). Plus, I hate washing the fine mesh strainer (don’t you?). The recipe below renders the straining unnecessary by employing an unusual technique: instead of cooking the eggs, lemon juice, and sugar together, straining to remove any bits of cooked egg that didn’t get completely mixed in, and finally stirring in the butter, you simply cream all the ingredients together, then pour them into a pan to cook until thickened. By creaming the mixture thoroughly before cooking it, the eggs get completely incorporated into the curd and it stays smooth and luscious. Genius!

I guess technically, from a clean-up stand point, you are just replacing the strainer with a mixer bowl and beater… but those things can easily go in the dishwasher. 😉

This method could be used with any existing lemon curd recipe. The one below is bright and puckery, not too sweet, and not too rich with butter, either, which made it a good choice as a filling for buttery Danish pastry.

Silky Lemon Curd

Adapted from Fine Cooking. I would highly recommend using free-range or pastured eggs here – the bright orange-yellow yolks will give the lemon curd a wonderful colour. Also, if possible, organic lemons are the way to go, as you will be using some of the zest (pesticides don’t taste very good). Be sure to zest the lemon before juicing it, which makes life much, much easier. Makes about 2 cups

In a mixer bowl with the paddle attachment, cream together:

6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

1 cup granulated white sugar (I used cane sugar and was a bit worried that the larger crystals wouldn’t dissolve, but when I added the eggs and lemon juice they disappeared, no problem)

Beat on medium speed until light and creamy, then one at a time, beat in:

2 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

With the mixer on low speed, slowly pour in:

2/3 cup fresh lemon juice (from 4 – 5 lemons, depending on their size and juiciness)

The mixture will look curdled after adding the lemon juice, but it will smooth out when you cook it. Pour the mixture into a heavy-bottomed saucepan.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture looks smooth (which means that the formerly curdled butter has melted).

Increase the heat to medium and cook, still stirring constantly, until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (the temperature should be around 170˚F). It will continue to thicken as it cools, so don’t worry if it looks a bit thin. Don’t let the curd boil!

Pour the lemon curd into a bowl and stir in:

1 tsp finely minced/grated lemon zest

Press a piece of plastic wrap onto the surface of the lemon curd to prevent a skin from forming as it cools. Chill in the fridge until completely cool, then transfer to a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid to store for up to a week. You can also freeze it for up to 2 months.

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Filed Under: Drinks & Condiments, Fruit, Recipes Tagged With: cooking, dessert, lemon curd, lemon filling, no sieving, recipe

« Lemon Heart Danishes
Ethiopian Injera »

Comments

  1. Sibella at bakingwithsibella.com says

    February 17, 2013 at 9:39 am

    Great as always Korena! I never made lemon curd before. I should definitely try this (maybe with meyer lemons). Have a wonderful Sunday!

    Reply
    • Korena in the Kitchen says

      February 17, 2013 at 10:47 pm

      Yes, you definitely should try this – so good! I imagine it would go so well with one of your gorgeous cakes, too.

      Reply
  2. ChgoJohn says

    February 17, 2013 at 10:11 am

    Thanks for the step-by-step approach. I’ve never made lemon curd before and this will prove helpful. I had thought that Meyer lemons were required and they are not always available here. Seeing this made with “normal” lemons is heaven-sent. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Korena in the Kitchen says

      February 17, 2013 at 11:37 am

      Yup, regular lemons are just fine (although I would recommend organic if you can get them). I actually prefer regular lemons over Meyer lemons, but I might be one of the few. I hope you do try this recipe 🙂

      Reply
  3. Sawsan@ Chef in disguise says

    February 17, 2013 at 10:28 am

    I love lemon too but have never made my own (I know what you mean about the wash up!)
    I will pick up some lemon on the way home tomorrow and give this a try soon

    Reply
  4. narf77 says

    February 17, 2013 at 2:03 pm

    An excellent tutorial and one that can be adapted to any citrus (or pineapple or passionfruit or mango etc.) curd to ensure the smoothest of curds 🙂

    Reply
    • Korena in the Kitchen says

      February 17, 2013 at 2:27 pm

      Yes, any kind of fruit curd! I’ve only ever made lemon, but now I want to branch out 🙂

      Reply
      • narf77 says

        February 17, 2013 at 2:49 pm

        Passionfruit is amazing, so is mango. Anything tropical is gorgeous to be honest :). You can even make plum or nectarine or peach curd apparently. I have eaten lots of passionfruit curd in my past, its an Aussie classic 🙂

        Reply
        • Korena in the Kitchen says

          February 17, 2013 at 2:52 pm

          Oh my gosh, plum curd? YUM. I was also thinking raspberry… I sense some experimentation in my future! Thanks for the ideas 🙂

          Reply
          • narf77 says

            February 17, 2013 at 3:00 pm

            You are welcome 🙂 at least I will get to read about them in a prospective future post 🙂

            Reply
  5. Christina says

    February 20, 2013 at 5:30 pm

    Haha had a good laugh watching that Bridget Jones clip. I think this curd is BRILLIANT. Have never had a standby curd recipe (always trying to better my last one which always seems to be not-quite-perfect) but I think this non-straining one will be a keeper.

    Reply
    • Korena in the Kitchen says

      February 20, 2013 at 7:38 pm

      Ha, I know, I love that movie 😉 I’m the same with the recipe, but this method is definitely one I will go back to!

      Reply
  6. The Little Spork says

    February 23, 2013 at 1:27 pm

    I’ve never tried making lemon curd before but yours looks so good, thanks for the step-by-step photos as well!

    Reply
  7. Alison says

    July 27, 2013 at 9:06 pm

    Great recipe!! I used to make lemon curd all the time using my grandmother’s never fail recipe. Then I decided to go paperless, stored it on my laptop and forgot to back up and the laptop died so I lost all of my grandmother’s recipes… I haven’t made lemon curd since, but this seems similar to her recipe so I will definitely be trying it! Thank you!

    Reply
    • Korena in the Kitchen says

      July 27, 2013 at 9:56 pm

      Oh no! Well I hope this one brings back some good memories 🙂

      Reply
  8. Ivana says

    January 11, 2015 at 8:00 pm

    Hello Korena! Just to thank you for sharing! For not being afraid of doing that! For helping someone like me to achieve my dream of being a pastry chef someday. This recipe works wonderfully!☺️

    Reply
    • Korena in the Kitchen says

      January 12, 2015 at 7:05 pm

      Aw, this is the nicest comment! I’m glad the recipe worked so well for you! 🙂

      Reply

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

Welcome to my kitchen!

I'm Korena: cook, baker, dirty-dishes-maker. My favourite things include flour, butter, sugar, and chocolate. Read More…

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS

Subscribe by Email!

Top Posts

Greek Kataifi
Daring Bakers: Ukrainian Easter Paska
Daring Bakers: Asian Coconut Custard Buns
Daring Bakers: Sfogliatelle Ricci and Lobster Tail Pastries
Cream Cheese Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting, Take 2: Success!
10 Years! {Nigella Lawson's Coffee and Walnut Layer Cake}

Search

Categories

Archives

Blogs I Like

  • 101 Cookbooks
  • Baking with Sibella
  • Bitter Baker
  • Bread and Companatico
  • Chocolate & Zucchini
  • Chocolate & Zucchini
  • De La Casa
  • Dinner With Julie
  • Dinner: A Love Story
  • Food in Jars
  • FrugalFeeding
  • Homesick Texan
  • Joy the Baker
  • Poires au Chocolat
  • Rufus' Food and Spirits Guide
  • Simple Bites
  • Simply Recipes
  • smitten kitchen
  • Steamy Kitchen
  • Tartelette
  • Tea & Cookies
  • The Pioneer Woman Cooks
  • The Wednesday Chef
  • Venison for Dinner
  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS

Subscribe by Email!

Search

Home | Recipes About | Contact |

All content © Korena Vezerian and Korena in the Kitchen, 2011 – 2021. Please contact me before duplicating any content, including pictures. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Korena Vezerian and Korena in the Kitchen with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Copyright © 2025 · Foodie Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d