Silky Smooth Lemon Curd (Thick and Perfectly Tart)
This homemade Lemon Curd is deliciously sweet, tangy, creamy, and smooth, with a tart lemon flavor. Use it as a dessert topping, a cake filling or on biscuits.
Servings: 2 cups
Calories: 988kcal
Ingredients
- 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons (4 grams) lemon zest
- 3/4 cup (180 ml) fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- 2 large (100 grams) whole eggs
- 4-5 large (80 grams) egg yolks
- 8 tablespoons (113 grams) unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Place a strainer over a medium-sized bowl near the stove.
- Place the sugar in a small bowl and zest the lemons onto the sugar. Use your fingers to rub the sugar and zest together. Juice the lemons until you have 3/4 cup of juice.
- In a nonreactive 3-4 quart saucepan, combine the lemon sugar, lemon juice, whole eggs, eggs yolks, sugar and whisk until well blended. Add the butter and salt.
- Cook the mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture is thickened. As you cook the mixture the butter will melt. When the mixture has thickened and reached a temperature of 185 degrees F pour it into the strainer. Press the curd through the strainer with a spatula to remove the solids.
- Cover the surface of the curd with plastic wrap, gently pressing the plastic wrap onto the surface of the curd. Place the curd in the refrigerator and chill.
Storing the Lemon Curd
- Refrigerator: Store the lemon curd in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Freezer: The curd can be frozen for up to one year. Place the curd in a freezer safe container. When ready to use place it in the refrigerator to thaw for 24 hours before using.
Notes
Weighing Eggs: I typically use grade A large eggs in my recipes, in which the egg yolk weighs 20 grams and the egg white weighs 30 grams. But there has been a trend where egg yolks weigh 15-16 grams instead of 20 grams. While the original recipe called for 4 eggs, I have changed the recipe to call for 4-5 egg yolks, because I often have to add a 5 egg yolk to get a total of 180 grams of egg.
A nonreactive pan is a pan that doesn't react with the food being cooked. Stainless steel and enamel-coated cast iron are non-reactive, and aluminum and cast iron are reactive. Reactive pans will react with the acid in the juice and change the flavor of the final dish.
Curdled lemon curd. If the curd is allowed to boil it will curdle the eggs and make the curd grainy. You can try straining it twice through a fine-mesh strainer, but that may not remove all the grainy bits.
Nutrition
Calories: 988kcal | Carbohydrates: 108g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 59g | Saturated Fat: 34g | Trans Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 675mg | Sodium: 233mg | Potassium: 213mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 103g | Vitamin A: 2163IU | Vitamin C: 38mg | Calcium: 94mg | Iron: 2mg