Homemade Lemon Curd
This homemade lemon curd comes together in 10 minutes and with just 5 ingredients! All you need to do is whisk it all together and you'll have a delicious spread to use in so many ways!
Ingredients
- 1⅓ cups granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest , finely grated
- 4 large eggs (whole)
- 4 egg yolks
- ⅔ cup fresh lemon juice (I used organic)
- ¼ teaspoon coarse salt
- 10 Tbsp unsalted butter , cut into pieces (I used vegan sticks)
Instructions
- Using a vegetable peeler, remove the colored zest from the lemons, leaving the white pith and add the zest to your sauce pan.
- Combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar, and eggs in a small saucepan on medium heat, whisking constantly.
- Bring the mixture to a simmer, whisking the entire time for at least 10 minutes.
- Place the diced butter in a medium bowl.
- Place the pan over medium heat and add in the butter (or vegan butter). Stir until the butter has melted. Keep stirring until the curd is thick enough to coat back of a wooden spoon. Take care not to boil and to whisk very quickly; 5-7 minutes.
- Spoon out the curd over a fine-mesh sieve into a glass bowl. Be sure to spoon it out a small portion at a time into the sieve. Place plastic wrap over the surface of the curd let the lemon curd cool slightly.
- If using for a lemon tart, spoon into tart shell. Leave in refrigerator to cool down if you are using for another recipe.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: The lemon curd can freeze for to 3-6 months. Simply thaw in the refrigerator.
- Thicker Lemon Curd: For thicker lemon curd, replace 2 of the egg yolks with 1 whole egg. This means you will use 2 egg yolks plus 1 whole egg. Keep the rest of the recipe and instructions the same.
- Lemon Juice: This recipe is not the same with bottled lemon juice. Be sure to use freshly squeezed lemon juice only.
- Butter: You can use salted butter instead of unsalted butter and just omit the salt that is in the recipe. We have made this with butter and with vegan butter sticks. Either way, it's delicious. So if you have someone dairy-free, make it with the Earth Balance butter sticks (or your favorite vegan sticks).
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