How to Make Lemon Curd

Learn how to make lemon curd with just 4 basic ingredients and get to taste the most deliciously tangy and sweet, smooth lemon sauce ever!

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I love lemon curd. It's smooth velvety texture, and sweet, tangy taste is so unique and absolutely delicious, I can eat it on its own.

Lemon curd is used in many desserts, pies, pastries and cakes. It even pairs well as a spread on your toast or even scones and as fillings in doughnuts, just to name a few.

The lemon curd recipe I am sharing with you on this page is a made from scratch recipe, using fresh lemons and eggs. With only 4 main ingredients - lemons, sugar, eggs and butter, you can whip up this lovely yellow lemon filling/sauce in under 30 minutes.

How to Make Lemon Curd - Recipe

Here is the full printable version of my lemon curd recipe. And while you are at it, don't forget to read up my notes right below it, they will help make sure you get the perfect lemon curd in your first try.

How to Make Lemon Curd

By Decorated Treats, November 25, 2019

Learn how to make lemon curd with just 4 basic ingredients and get to taste the most deliciously tangy and sweet lemon sauce ever!

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook time: 10 Minutes
Yield: 300 g / 360 ml Lemon Curd
Keyword: How to Make Lemon Curd
Category: Dessert
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Ingredients

3 whole eggs (medium sized)
200 g castor sugar
1 tbsp lemon zest (zest of one lemon)
90 ml lemon juice (1 and half lemons)
85 g salted butter (if using unsalted butter, add ⅛ tsp salt)

Instructions

Zest the lemons. Cut and squeeze the juice. Strain and set it aside.
In a food processor, blend the sugar and the lemon zest until fine. This is an optional step but it helps in making sure the lemon zest becomes really fine so that it does not appear obvious in the curd.
Add the sugar and lemon juice into a heatproof bowl and double boil until the sugar is melted.
Beat the eggs lightly and add to the sugar-lemon juice mixture. Keep whisking to avoid the eggs from turning lumpy. Add the butter and continue whisking until the mixture thickens. Use the back to of a spoon to test its consistency. If the curd covers the back of the spoon, it is done and can be removed from heat.
Strain the curd in a sieve to remove any lumps.
Cover the bowl with cling wrap, making sure the wrap touches the surface of the curd completely (to avoid a layer of skin forming on the surface of the curd.
Refrigerate until cold and keep it refrigerated until ready for use.

Lemon Curd - Recipe Notes

Lemon curd very easy to put together. With just 4 basic ingredients, you can make a jar of this curd in less than 30 minutes.

Always use fresh lemon juice - any kind of bottled lemon juice will not produce the same results as fresh lemons, so it is really worth using fresh fruits.

When zesting and juicing the lemons, always zest first and then juice them. It is so much easier to zest the skin when the fruit is still full of juice and round. Once the juice is squeezed out, its much harder to zest.

When adding lemon zest to the curd, you have two options. First option is to blend it together with sugar to form a fine powder so that you get a really smooth curd without any obvious lemon skin bits in it. Unless you are making large quantities of lemon curd, the amount of lemon zest added into the curd is too little to be processed into fine powder on its own in a food processor. This is why I add it to sugar. That way, there is enough volume to blend the zest in a food processor. The other option is to skip the blending process and add the zest directly to the curd. With this option, you will get to feel the lemon zest in your curd. If you like it this way, then add the zest without processing it into fine powder.

Always strain your lemon juice before measuring and adding to your curd. We want to avoid seeds and the pulp from getting it.

When cooking the curd, always do it on a double boiler. Never cook the curd over direct heat as the heat can burn the curd. Even on a double boiler, keep stirring the mixture until it thickens. This is to avoid the eggs from getting lumpy in the curd.

The recipe above calls for the use of salted butter. If you prefer to use unsalted butter, you would need to add 1/8 tsp salt to your curd.

The curd need not be cooked until it is absolutely thick. Constantly check the consistency with the back of a spoon. If the curd covers the back of a spoon, it is ready and can be removed from heat. The curd will continue to thicken as it cools.

When cooling the curd, cover the surface with a cling wrap. Make sure the wrap touches the surface of your curd. This will avoid your curd from forming a skin which can affect its smooth consistency.

Keep the curd refrigerated.

How to Make Lemon Curd

Here is the step by step guide to making your own homemade lemon curd:

Start by getting your lemons ready. Zest the skin and juice the fruits. Strain the juice and set it aside.

Mix the zest with sugar and blend both in a food processor to a fine powder.

Add the blended sugar into a heat proof bowl. Add the lemon juice and double boil until the sugar is melted while whisking occasionally.

Once sugar is melted, add the lightly beaten eggs and butter and continue to double boil until the mixture starts to thicken. Keep whisking the entire time.

Once the curd has thickened, check its consistency by dipping a spoon into the curd. If the curd covers the back of the spoon as you lift it out, the curd is cooked and can be removed from heat.

Strain the curd to remove any lumps, especially the eggs. At this stage, if the lemon zest was not finely blended earlier on, it will get strained out here, so it actually helps to finely process the zest.

Wrap the lemon curd with cling wrap. Make sure the cling wrap touches the entire surface of the curd to avoid the curd from forming a skin as it cools down.

Let the curd cool down completely and keep it in the refrigerator until ready for use. The lemon curd can be refrigerated for about a week. If frozen, this delicious tangy curd can be kept for a good 3 months. Bring the curd to room temperature before using.

And that's my lemon curd recipe for you. Give it a try and let me know how it turns out. :)

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