Lemon curd is easy to make at home with just a few ingredients and no special equipment needed. Home-made lemon curd takes about 10 minutes of hands-on cooking and tastes fresher and cleaner. It is sweet, tart, creamy, and delicious whether used in cookies, cakes, pastries, tarts, or on its own.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Diet Gluten Free
Keyword Easy stovetop lemon curd, Lemon Curd without Double Boiler
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Cook Time 10 minutesminutes
Cooling time 1 hourhour
Calories 120kcal
Author Syama
Equipment
Whisk or spatula
Heavy Bottomed pan
Ingredients
3Egg Yolks
½CupSugar
1TablespoonLemon Zestzest 1 large lemon
¼CupLemon JuiceFresh squeezed (1 -2 lemons)
1/8TeaspoonSaltA pinch
4TablespoonButtercold
Instructions
Separate the yolks from the whites. Zest the lemon/s fine. Juice the lemons and measure ¼ cup of juice.
In a heavy-duty saucepan mix in the egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Whisk well until the mix looks paler in color and uniform.
Transfer the pan to the stove, set on low heat. Keep the heat on low, and whisk/stir continuously. After a few minutes, the mix thickens and begins to bubble. Keep stirring over low heat to avoid burning and the mix from curdling or separating. The mix is ready when it coats the back of the spoon and has visibly thickened.
Turn off the heat and add the cold, pieces of butter, and mix well. Once the butter is melted and incorporated into the curd strain the curd if needed.
Transfer to a container. Place a piece of parchment or plastic wrap on the curd surface. This will prevent the skin from forming.
Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or freeze for longer storage
Notes
Use fresh lemon juice. The store-bought lemon juice will not taste as great.
For the thick but easily spreadable consistency of curd stop cooking the curd till it coats the back of a spoon. Dip the back of a spoon in curd and run your finger over it. If the curd doesn’t spread to close the gap then it is ready.