Easy Homemade Lemon Curd
It's so easy to make delicious homemade lemon curd - you need just four ingredients and less than 30 minutes! And it makes the best filling for lemon or strawberry lemonade cupcakes!
Ingredients
- 5 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup (99 grams) granulated sugar
- grated zest of 2 lemons
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice from about 2 lemons
- 6 tablespoons (3 ounces, 86 grams) unsalted butter
Instructions
- In a small Dutch oven or heavy saucepan, combine the egg yolks and sugar; whisk briskly for about 1 minute. Add the lemon zest and juice; whisk again for 1 minute to blend. Cut butter into small pieces, about 1 inch each.
- Set the pan over low heat and cook gently, stirring almost constantly, until the mixture visibly thickens, about 15 minutes. (See recipe note 1.)
- Remove pan from heat and add pieces of butter. Let cool, stirring occasionally, until butter is melted and mixture comes approximately to room temperature. Strain the curd through a fine mesh sieve, if desired. (See recipe note 2.)
- Cover tightly and store in the fridge.
Notes
- You may be tempted to turn up the heat, but don't do it! Cooking low and slow, and the near-constant stirring, is important to prevent the egg from "cooking" into little clumps, rather than forming the sweet custard that you want. Many recipes call for doing this in a double boiler, which would achieve the same effect, but I have never found the extra effort of setting up a double boiler to be necessary.
- Straining the curd through a fine mesh sieve is not strictly necessary - I actually don't do it most of the time - but it just depends on your personal preference. Straining it will obviously result in an even smoother finished product, as it will filter out any small pieces of lemon zest or other solids. IF you think some small pieces of egg may have cooked to a solid state, straining will help get those out!
- Curd will keep well in the fridge for 7-10 days.
- Recipe adapted from Williams-Sonoma.
Nutrition Estimate
Calories: 81 kcal, Carbohydrates: 7 g, Protein: 1 g, Fat: 6 g, Saturated Fat: 3 g, Cholesterol: 72 mg, Sodium: 3 mg, Potassium: 10 mg, Sugar: 6 g, Vitamin A: 212 IU, Vitamin C: 1 mg, Calcium: 9 mg, Iron: 1 mg
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