The Sunday Baker

A first attempt at lemon curd....

  Yes okay,I know, so it's not baked. And I made it yesterday.  

I wanted to make Eccles Cakes.  But that whole process takes far too long with the time I have and all without a rolling pin.  I know, it seems absurd - strangely, I still do not have a rolling pin.  So I decided to make lemon curd instead.  No rolling pin required.  Incidentally, why is it called a rolling pin? It is not at all pin like....

It must be years since I have had some decent lemon curd 

and as it was such a large part of my childhood I remember it well. Smothering it on well buttered toast in the mornings and relishing the days I got away with taking a lemon curd sandwich to school in my lunchbox.

Really, I'm not entirely sure why it's taken me so long to make some....I am of course indebted to whoever created this delight of a recipe, sadly I no longer remember who that may be.

First, I boil some water and choose my jars.

  I like to do this even my jars have been thoroughly washed.  Sometimes, they still smell like my leftover Bolognese sauce, so it's probably best to fill them with some boiling water - I have a feeling that Bolognese scented lemon curd is not about to become a sought after delicacy.

Next, I take four lemons and grate them.

Then I pop the zest in a bowl, along with the juice.

I decided to keep my seeds to see if I can grow them.  I'll post my progress, of course....I'm quite excited about this actually!

I always do my eggs separately. I have suffered the vile misfortune of a rotten egg. Just take it from someone who knows.

So after I have grated and juiced my four lemons and cracked four eggs, I put it all in a bowl and whisk it lightly.

Next I add my caster sugar, 450g. I know, it's a lot.  You could more than likely get away with 350g.  I'd urge you to try it so you can tell me how it turns out.  Now I fill a pan with water, suitable to use as a double boiler and bring it to a simmer.

I have to be careful that my bowl with my mixture does not touch the water. Once it's stable I add 100g of butter and whisk it slowly until it's melted.

So now to be sure, I check it's on a gentle heat, switch out to a spoon and stir occasionally for fifteen to twenty minutes, or until the lemon curd is at the desired thickness. To test the thickness, I take a cold plate and spoon dollops in the middle to cool, set and taste. I found I needed to do this around fifteen times, just to be sure.

I get my jars ready, ladel out, turn off the heat and allow it to cool for around ten minutes.  

At this point, I advise walking away from the bowl of warm lemon curd. Leave the mess. Just go.

So now it's time to pour the lemony goodness into my nice clean 

de-bolognesed jars. Wow. I love this stuff. Now I have two jars sitting nicely in my fridge there's no saying what mischief I might get up to.  I'm serious.  This is good squishy.

Definitely a top shelfer. 

Join me next weekend for some more sort-of-Sunday-baking and let me know how you went with your lemon curd, tell me if you've never had it before, or if you've never made it before.

Until then...enjoy your curd of lemon spread on thick toast or plain biscuits, use it for tarts and puddings, but most of all, don't forget to have a sneaky spoonful!

xx