Lemon Curd {Recipe}

This lemon curd is one of my favorite things. I love it. It's awesome with scones, in pies, as a filling in cakes and cupcakes, and as I recently discovered, in icing!

What You Need:
1-2 Tbsp. lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2-4 lemons)
6 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter (cut into chunks)

To get the 1-2 Tbsp. lemon zest, you can either use a microplane grater, like you see above...

Or, you can use a vegetable peeler, being careful to avoid the white pith. (That is bitter.)

Then, use a knife to chop the zest fine. (You will be straining this out, so it's not a huge deal if it's a little big.)

To easily get more juice from the lemons, roll them on the counter top, pressing with your hand to soften the fruit inside. This helps to get more juice, especially when the peels are super thick.

To keep the seeds out, squeeze the juice through your hand or a strainer. We will strain the lemon curd at the end, so if a seed or two sneak by, it's not that big of a deal.

Now that your lemons are ready, Place the yolks from six eggs into the bottom of a small saucepan.
(See below for some ideas to use the reserved egg whites.)

Add the sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice. Whisk to combine, and set over medium-low heat.

Stirring constantly, allow the mixture to thicken. This takes me about 10 minutes. (And you really do have to stir constantly.) You know it's ready when it coats the back of your spatula.

Not ready.

Ready.

Remove from heat and add the butter a few chunks at a time, stirring until the chunks melt each time.

Once all of the butter is added and melted, strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer (to get the zest out, and any other various not-smooth bits).

Lay plastic wrap directly on the surface of the lemon curd to prevent a skin from forming.  
*I've found that the butter cools my curd enough that it's no longer really too warm after that step. However, if you want to wait until it cools a little more before adding the plastic wrap, that's okay.

Allow the lemon curd to set up in the refrigerator at least 3 hours to overnight.
It keeps for about 1 week in the refrigerator... but that's not an issue because it will never last that long.

Click the links below for ideas with your leftover egg whites:
Rich Vanilla Buttercream
Strawberry Buttercream Icing (My Favorite Recipe!)
Silky Chocolate Frosting
Caramel Buttercream Icing
S'Mores Cake (or Cupcakes) 

Click the Links Below to See:
Lemon Cream Pie Recipe (using lemon curd)
Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes (using lemon curd)
How to Make Cake Mix Taste Homemade (use lemon curd for filling) 

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