Lemon curd

Name: Lemon curd
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 4 Finely grated zest and juice of 4 unwaxed lemons; 100 g unsalted butter; 150 g caster sugar; 2 British Blacktail Medium Free Range Eggs, yolks only; 2 British Blacktail Medium Free Range Eggs, beaten

Martha Collison's recipe for this bright and breezy lemon curd is simple. All the ingredients go into one pan and are heated gently until the mixture thickens.

Makes: 2 x 250ml small jars

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Vegetarian

Makes2
CourseAccompaniment
Prepare15 mins
Cook10 mins
Total time25 mins
Plussterilising the jars

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Ingredients

4 Finely grated zest and juice of 4 unwaxed lemons
100g unsalted butter
150g caster sugar
2 British Blacktail Medium Free Range Eggs, yolks only
2 British Blacktail Medium Free Range Eggs, beaten

Method

Sterilise 2 small jars by washing them well with hot soapy water, rinsing thoroughly and then allowing them to dry completely in the oven at 150°C, gas mark 2. Sterilising stops any mould developing inside the jar, which keeps your curd fresher for longer, so don’t skip this step.
In a medium saucepan, combine the lemon zest, juice, butter, sugar, egg yolks and eggs. Heat very gently, whisking all the time, until the butter has completely melted.
Turn the heat up to medium and continue to whisk. After 5-6 minutes, the mixture should have thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat immediately.
Pour the curd into the sterilised jars and screw on the lids, then leave to cool at room temperature. Store the lemon curd in the fridge and use within 1 week.

Cook’s tip

Try these three alternative flavours:

Lemon & ginger curd

Peel and grate a 3.5cm piece of fresh ginger (use more if you like it fiery) and add to the mixture at step 3. Cook as in the method left, then strain the curd into the jars through a sieve to remove any lumps.

Lemon & raspberry curd

Blitz 150g raspberries in a food processor to loosen the seeds from the juice and strain the mixture into a jug. Reduce the lemons in the recipe, left, to 2 and add the raspberry juice to the pan at the same time as the lemon juice. Cook as in the method left.

Passion fruit curd

Replace the lemons with the pulp of 8 passion fruit or 2 x 130g pouches of Cooks’ Ingredients Passion Fruit Pulp. Cook as in the method left. If you’d prefer the curd seedless, blitz the pulp in a food processor and strain through a sieve