Lemon Curd

http://www.thewickednoodle.com/luscious-lemon-curd/

Homemade Lemon Curd
This first recipe comes from Fine Cooking

3 oz. (6 Tbs.) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon zest

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer, about 2 min. Slowly add the eggs and yolks. Beat for 1 min. Mix in the lemon juice. The mixture will look curdled, but it will smooth out as it cooks.

In a medium, heavy-based saucepan, cook the mixture over low heat until it looks smooth. (The curdled appearance disappears as the butter in the mixture melts.) Increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 15 minutes. It should leave a path on the back of a spoon and will read 170°F on a thermometer. Don’t let the mixture boil.

Remove the curd from the heat; stir in the lemon zest. Transfer the curd to a bowl. Press plastic wrap on the surface of the lemon curd to keep a skin from forming and chill the curd in the refrigerator. The curd will thicken further as it cools. Covered tightly, it will keep in the refrigerator for a week and in the freezer for 2 months.

Microwave Homemade Lemon Curd

3 tablespoons lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, strained to remove any pulp (2 to 4 lemons)
1 1/2 cups sugar
8 tablespoons butter, softened
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten (together with the whole eggs)

Mix butter with the sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice. Add the whole eggs and yolks and blend well.
Cover with parchment paper and microwave on high for 3 minutes, stirring well after each minute. Continue until mixture thickens and coats the spoon. You might need more or less time depending on your microwave.
Cover and refrigerate at least an hour.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2012/01/23/homemade-lemon-curd-in-under-10-minutes-no-joke-heres-how/

Homemade lemon curd in under 10 minutes? No joke – here’s how.

January 23rd, 2012 by PJ Hamel

So, I was browsing through my Modern Baking magazine last night, and came across the slickest little recipe ever:

I mean, I know you can make lemon curd at home, but doesn’t it involve egg yolks, and stirring a pot on the stove, and transferring some of the hot liquid from one bowl to another and back again…

But THIS lemon curd, made simply by stirring everything together and cooking in the microwave for 7 minutes?

The challenge is, most of the time these recipes A) assume a certain level of familiarity with common bakery practices (kind of like recipes used to be written back in the day – no directions, you’re just supposed to know what to do); B) they assume a certain amount of equipment (a dough sheeter, for instance); and C), they make 30 dozen of whatever, when all you want is 2 dozen at the most.

But this lemon curd recipe is different.

It doesn’t use any unusual techniques; no fancy equipment is necessary; and it makes just 1 quart of curd, easily cut back to a more manageable 2 cups.

Did I mention how easy this is?

How about how tasty?

Well, see for yourself; if you have lemons, sugar, butter, and eggs on hand, get out your microwave-safe bowl and let’s get started.

Put 2 large eggs and 1 cup sugar in a microwave-safe bowl.

Make that a BIG microwave-safe bowl; the eggs and sugar should take up no more than 1/4 of the bowl’s capacity.

Whisk to combine, then whisk in 1/2 cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter, which you’ve melted first.

Finally, add 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice. About 4 large, juicy lemons should do it.

Note: Modern Baking calls for the grated rind of the lemons as well as their juice. I prefer a super-smooth curd without stringy little bits of peel, but add it for more assertive lemon flavor, if you choose.

Whisk until everything is thoroughly combined.

Put the bowl on a plate (to catch any bubble-overs), place in the microwave, and cook in 1-minute increments, stirring after each.

High power? Low? I don’t know, my microwave doesn’t have any power levels. The instructions in Modern Baking say 3 to 5 minutes at “full power,” but if your ‘wave doesn’t have power settings – just wing it.

At first, you won’t see much change; as the curd heats it’ll foam up, but it’ll stay quite liquid.

Speaking of foaming up, this is why you put the bowl on a plate…

At some point – for me, it was 8 minutes – you’ll see the curd start to mound just a tiny bit. It’s subtle; it won’t be anywhere near the thickness of finished lemon curd. But it’ll definitely be thicker than it was to begin with.

As the recipe says, it should coat the back of a spoon.

Well, that’s kind of general, isn’t it? Doesn’t ANY liquid coat the back of a spoon?

I decided to take the curd’s temperature, just to make sure the eggs were thoroughly cooked.

At 187°F, they were indeed sufficiently cooked. And the curd was thick enough that it didn’t run right off the spoon, but kind of coated it – I guess.

Anyway, I stuck the curd (a scant 2 cups) in the fridge, and once it was thoroughly chilled… Eureka! It had thickened to a smooth, spreadable consistency, stiff enough to mound nicely when dropped from a spoon.

It’s not as stiff as jarred lemon curd…

…but it’s certainly stiff enough to dollop onto a ginger cookie and enjoy.

Or combine with whipped cream for a lemon icebox pie, or spoon into paczki – both of which I intend to try ASAP.

Stay tuned…