Lemon Curd
Memorial Day was always a fun holiday at my house. As a kid, I remember the day to be sunny and not too cold. I’m sure that was not the case every year, but my memory holds that weather report on record anyway. One of the other things I will remember about Memorial Day is kittens. Spring always brought a fresh batch of furry babies into our world and coincidentally, on Memorial Day they’d always be just old enough to take them out and let them play on the lawn. They were about six or seven weeks old. Once the kittens were able to eat without “mom” and use a litter box they were ready to find a new home.
In those days, we used to give away the kittens to good homes. That’s not highly recommended these days (or even recommended at all), but it was the tradition back in the ’60s in small-town America. Memorial Day brought lots of folks to our neighborhood, so it was a perfect day to find new homes for the kittens. People would walk by and ooh and aaah. We’d have four or five to give away and invariably they’d find very happy families to go to. That part of Memorial Day made me sort of sad, but mostly I remember how proud we were to show off our adorable bundles to the passers-by.
Why were so many people passing by our house? Because we were lucky enough to...
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Lemon Curd
Lemon curd is the perfect spring and summer dessert ingredient. I have made a lemon dessert for my husband’s birthday for 38 years straight. I bet you can guess that’s his favorite dessert flavor. I like to serve this curd in a mini tart using my favorite no bake shortbread cookie crust.
Servings: Serves 6 as small tarts or makes one 9-inch larger tart
Ingredients:
3/4 cup of fresh lemon juice (Depending on the size of the lemons it might take about 4 lemons to get 3/4 of a cup. Use a juicer. Don’t buy lemon juice in a jar)
1 tsp of dried lemon peel (Or you can zest one of the lemons.)
1/2 cup regular sugar (This is a splurge. This is a TART tart.)
1/4 cup of sugar substitute (I use Swerve or ZSweet.)
3 eggs
1/3 cup of salted butter, cubed
Optional: Whipping cream, Truwhip (tastes just like CoolWhip without the sugar), and/or berries for decoration.
Instructions:
In a medium saucepan add the lemon juice, zest, sugar, sugar sub, eggs, and butter. Heat on medium low until the curd is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon with a nice thick layer. You’ll know you’re almost done with it begins to lightly bubble. It will be about six minutes. I stir with a whisk often to keep it from forming a crust on the bottom of the pan. If you feel a crust forming, turn the heat down a little.
That’s it! You are done! Now you can decide how you want to serve it: as a tart, several small tarts or simply dip in a cookie or two.
If you want to keep the curd in the refrigerator that’s fine. Definitely chill it. That helps it thicken up even more. You can chill it for up to five days. Just cover it with a layer of plastic wrap after it’s chilled. That keeps it from forming a skin on the top. Stir and serve it or incorporate it into a recipe.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola
