When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemon Curd

It’s been kind of a blah few weeks for me, personally. I don’t want to get all confessional about problems and such, but sometimes to get out of a funk, I needed a project–you know, something new to try, something different to focus on other than my own selfish self. Fortunately, I was gifted a big basket of bright yellow lemons from my aunt’s tree in Las Vegas, so I decided to try making lemon curd. You know what they say…when life gives you lemons, make lemon curd.

While I know this isn’t strictly baking, you can use lemon curd in lots of things, so I figured, it counts. Plus, making your own tastes so much better than the store bought versions, as you likely already know. 

Here’s What’ You’ll Need

An aunt with a sunny lemon tree in Las Vegas (Just Kidding)

2 ¼ Cups of Lemon Juice from any kind of lemon

3 Tablespoons of Lemon Zest

2 Cups of Sugar

9 Eggs

1 ½ Cups of Unsalted Butter

Here’s How To Make It

Step One: Before juicing your lemons, zest about three or four of them, depending on their size. For this much lemon curd, you’ll need around 3 Tablespoons of zest. You should also cube your butter and beat your eggs.

Step Two: Juice your lemons. It took about 15 lemons to get the amount of juice. Once you have all the juice you need, strain it to remove the extra pulp and seeds.

Step Three: Put all of the ingredients into a large saucepan and cook them over a medium-low heat for about 9 minutes. Make sure you whisk the mixture the entire time or your eggs will scramble, which is a big lemony mess. You’ll know your curd is almost ready when it starts to thicken up and stick to your whisk or when it reaches around 170 degrees.

Step 4: Take your curd off the heat and pour it into some kind of container. I used these adorable yogurt jars, because they look like little jars of sunshine, but you can use any kind of container you like. Let it cool to room temperature, then store it in the fridge. It will stay good for about a week in the fridge. If you made lots like I did, you can give it as gifts to your family, friends, and neighbors or you can put it in the freezer and use it whenever you need it.

You can use your lemon curd in cakes, pies, tarts, trifles, and lots of other yummy recipes. It also tastes delicious on muffins, toast, scones, pancakes, crumpets, and crepes.