Our unbeatable lemon curd recipe
Learn how to make lemon curd and you'll unlock a delicious topping for toast, scones, pikelets and pancakes as well as a dreamy filling for tarts and sponge cake.
- 10 mins cooking
- Makes 2 Cup
Ingredients
- 6 egg yolks
- 1 cup (220g) caster (superfine) sugar
- 80 gram (2½ ounces) unsalted butter, chopped coarsely
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
- 2/3 cup (180ml) lemon juice
Method
- 1Whisk egg yolks and sugar in medium bowl until combined; transfer to small saucepan with remaining ingredients. Cook, stirring, over low heat, about 8 minutes or until mixture thickly coats the back of a wooden spoon. Remove from heat immediately; stir for 30 seconds.
- 2Pour hot curd into hot sterilised jars; seal immediately. Label and date jars when cold.
- 3Variations: You can make this recipe with almost any citrus fruit; simply replace the lemon rind and juice with the same amount of rind and juice of whatever citrus fruit you like - lime, orange, blood orange, mandarin, grapefruit and tangelo would all work well. If your oranges are very sweet, you might want to reduce the sugar to ¾ cup.
Notes
It is important to cook the curd over a low heat to prevent curdling. If you're making curd for the first time, stir the ingredients, in a medium glass or china heatproof bowl, over a medium saucepan of simmering water. Make sure the base of the bowl does not touch the water in the pan. You will need about 4 lemons for this recipe. Lemon curd will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator. If you prefer a completely smooth curd, you can strain the mixture (to remove the tiny pieces of lemon rind) through a fine sieve before pouring into jars. Freeze the egg whites and use them later in friands, omelettes or in a pavlova.