How to Make Lemon Curd (A Homemade Recipe)

❤️Why you will love this recipe

• This is an easy recipe for easy homemade lemon curd with only 4 simple ingredients.
• It is a made from scratch recipe and you get to make your own lemon curd in under 30 minutes.
• This simple recipe makes a fairly small batch of lemon curd, so if you do not want to make too much curd at one time, this is the best lemon curd recipe for you.
• It is a great recipe to use up extra bunch of lemons you have at home.
• The recipe makes perfect lemon curd every single time, with a deliciously intense lemon flavor. 
• The recipe uses whole eggs so there is no hassle of separating egg yolks and egg whites. 
• With a perfect combination of sweet and tart lemon flavor, this luscious lemon curd is perfect for lemon lovers. You can use it if your own favorite way to make baked desserts, or simply use it as a topping or filling or as a spread.

Like this homemade lemon curd recipe? Here are my other posts you might want to check out:

• Lemon Curd Cheesecake (The Ultimate Lemon Cheesecake)
• Lemon Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Old Fashioned Lemon Pound Cake
• Candied Lemon Slices (How to Make)
• Candied Lemon Peel (How to Make)
• Lemon Blueberry Cake Loaf with Lemon Glaze
• Moist Sour Cream Lemon Cake
• Frozen Lemonade Concentrate
• Lemonade Popsicles
• Lemonade Sorbet (How to Make)
• Brown Sugar Lemonade

📋Ingredients

• Lemons - you will both the zest (rind) as well as the juice. Use fresh lemons. Always strain your lemon juice before measuring and adding to your curd to remove any seeds and pulp.
• White sugar - either coarse sugar or granulated sugar will work for this recipe.
• Whole eggs - use room temperature, large eggs.
• Butter - I use salted butter. The butter enhances the taste of the curd.

🧾Substitution and variations

• The recipe above calls for the use of salted butter. If you prefer to use unsalted butter, you would need to add ⅛ teaspoon of fine salt to your curd along with the butter.

Preparing the zest and sugar

Here is the step by step guide on how to make lemon curd from scratch:

1. Start by getting your lemons ready. Zest the skin and juice the fruits.
2. Strain the juice and set it aside.
3. Mix the zest with sugar.
4. Blend both in a food processor to a fine powder.

Cooking the curd

1. Add the blended sugar into a heatproof bowl. Add the lemon juice and double boil over medium-low heat until the sugar is melted while whisking occasionally. 
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Strain the curd with a fine mesh strainer 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 it.
5. Wrap the lemon curd with a piece of plastic wrap. Make sure the cling wrap touches the entire surface of the curd to avoid skin from forming on top of the curd as it cools down.
6. Let the curd cool down completely and keep it in the refrigerator until ready to use.

🍽️Serving & storage

• When cooling the curd, cover the surface with a plastic wrap. Make sure the wrap touches the surface of your curd. This will avoid your curd from forming a skin that can affect its smooth consistency.
• Keep the curd refrigerated. It 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 it.

💡Expert tips

• 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.
• When adding lemon zest to the curd, you have two options. The 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.
• 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 skin in your curd. If you like it this way, then add the zest without processing it into a fine powder.
• 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.

⭐What can you use the lemon curd for?

• Lemon curd is used in many desserts like lemon meringue pie, lemon bars, lemon tart, lemon pie, cheesecakes like this lemon curd cheesecake, cakes like this Earl Grey pound cake and cookies.
• It also pairs well as a delicious spread on your toast, French toast or even scones and as fillings in round shaped brioche doughnuts and between layers of cake, just to name a few.
• Try it as a topping for simple homemade churned ice cream, pancakes or waffles to a lovely tangy lemon flavor.

💭FAQs