Tangy, creamy and sweet (but not too sweet), homemade lemon curd is easy to make with just 4 ingredients! Makes just over 1 cup (300 mL)EASY - Great recipe for the novice cook. This recipe does require frequent supervision and stirring. Do not leave unattended. Common Measurement Conversions
Zest all lemons, and then squeeze the juice out of all of them to make ½ cup of juice (strained).
Alternatively, carefully peel the lemon skin (just the yellow part, avoid the white part), and then squeeze out the juice to make ½ cup of strained juice.
Place the lemon peel and sugar in a food processor and process until the lemon peel is finely processed with the sugar. If you're using a lemon zester, then you can skip this step.
Place the sugar, lemon zest (or lemon peel processed sugar), eggs, egg yolks, and salt in a medium-sized saucepan. Whisk until you have a smooth and pale mixture.
Whisk in the strained lemon juice, and add the butter.
Heat the mixture over medium heat while whisking frequently to melt the butter. Once the butter is melted, increase the heat to medium high and whisk the mixture more frequently, until it registers at 200°F for a total cook time of about 10 minutes.
For a thicker lemon curd - if you want a thicker lemon curd, cook further until the lemon curd has a jellied consistency, for a total cook time of about 15 - 18 minutes. Make sure you're CONSTANTLY whisking slowly to prevent the lemon curd from scrambling or splitting.
As soon as the lemon curd reaches the right consistency, strain it immediately into a flat container to cool down quickly. Then place a plastic wrap on top, touching the surface of the lemon curd (to prevent a skin from forming on top), and let it cool down to room temperature.
Let the lemon curd chill overnight in the fridge.
Alternatively, transfer the hot lemon curd into sterilized jars, and let them cool down to room temperature, while the surface is covered with plastic wrap (that's touching the surface of the lemon curd), and the jars are closed with lids.
Once at room temperature, chill in the fridge.
Use as needed. The lemon curd will keep up to 10 days in the fridge.