Lemon Curd - Gift of the Day

My dad's cousin used to keep chickens in her backyard and each year, she'd use some of her egg-y bounty to whip up jars of lemon curd to send out to family for the holidays. I looked forward to this jar arriving in the mail because it was essentially a little jar of lemon pie filling and I would sneak it away and eat tiny bites of it with a spoon until one of my parents caught me and took it away.

This year, I found myself with an abundance of Meyer lemons and so decided to combine their juice and zest with some good farmers market eggs and butter to make a batch of lemon curd to add to my edible gift stash. I adapted a recipe from The Martha Stewart Cookbook and got to work. It's sort of a fussy recipe, because all the lemons need to be zested and juiced and a dozen eggs needed to be divided into whites and yolks. However, once that's done, the rest is a breeze and it worth it for the giddy reaction you'll get from people when you tell them that you've got homemade lemon curd for them to spread on their morning toast. The recipe is after the jump.




Meyer Lemon Curd
Adapted from The Martha Stewart Cookbook

12 egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 cups sugar
1 cup freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice (approximately 8 lemons)
2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons lemon zest

Pour sugar into a non-reactive, medium sauce pot. Strain beaten egg yolks in on top of the sugar, add lemon juice and turn the heat on to medium heat (do not turn the heat on until you've added all three ingredients and you've given them a couple of stirs so as to prevent scrambled yolks). Cook for approximately 15 minutes, stirring constantly, until it is thickened and coats the back of a spoon. A good test for this is if you coat the back of the spoon and then run your finger through the curd (giving it a moment to cool down so you don't scald yourself). If the line you create doesn't fill in, your curd is thickened sufficiently.

Remove the pot from the heat and whisk in the pieces of butter one at a time, until each one is melted into the curd and it's cooled a bit.

Run the curd through a strainer again, this time to remove any bits of scrambled egg that might have developed. Once you've strained, whisk in the lemon zest. Pour into sterilized jars and keep refrigerated until your ready to gift them.