Meyer Lemon and Other Citrus Curds

I decided to have a tea party for my birthday last year and started researching tea sandwiches as well as making my own curds. Curds are a wonderful sweet treat you can slather  on scones, cookies, shortbread. I have become a bit of a curd fanatic actually and since that party in November I have made curd 3 more times trying to find the perfect recipe.

On of things that bothered me was how many egg yolks most recipes use and what to do with all the egg whites left over. I do NOT like meringue so with the first batch I used it to make seven minute frosting for a coconut cake I also made for my birthday party. That worked great as the amount of whites I had left was exactly what I needed for the frosting and the seven minute frosting was a good compliment to the coconut but I was not enamored of that taste either. It was better than meringue though. 

In searching about the internet I found a recipe that actually used a mix of just egg yolks and whole eggs that with a little bit of my own tweaking turned out a perfect curd that was just as creamy and smooth as the all yolk recipes and after I was done I only had two egg whites to deal with. (Most other recipes call for six egg yolks!

Cybele's Less Yolks Curd:

2 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

6 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into pieces and softened to room temperature

2/3rds cup juice (Meyer lemon, lemon, tangerine or lime or try something new!)

2 teaspoons zest from your citrus of choice

1 cup sugar

Items you will need/want:

Stand mixer or good quality hand mixer

Stainless steel 3 quart pot

Wooden spoon

Fine mesh strainer

Glass bowl

2 half pint jam/jelly jars washed and dry ready to go



In order for the egg whites to not cook faster than yolks this recipe requires you to cream all your ingredients in mixer BEFORE cooking it.

Cream the butter and sugar first for about 2 minutes on medium speed then slowly add the eggs then the juice. The mix will look oddly curdled but that is normal.

Pour the blended mixture into a stainless steel pot(non stick is not recommended for curds or jams as the chemicals in the non-stick surface can affect the recipe) also use wooden or plastic spoons as metal spoons can react to the critic acid. Slowly cook on medium heat for 10-15 minutes, never let it boil, once the mixture thickens and coats the back of your spoon remove from heat and add the zest.

Using the fine mesh strainer slowly pour the curd mixture through the strainer into the glass bowl using your spoon pressing the mixture through the strainer getting all the flavor of the zest but removing all the pieces of zest and possible egg bits so your curd is smooth and creamy.

Then you can pour the curd into the jam/jelly jars and let sit for about thirty minutes to an hour to cool. Then put the lids on and immediately refrigerate curd cannot be stored on a pantry shelf because of the butter. This recipe make on pint of curd and should last 1-2 months in the fridge, possibly longer. I have read you can freeze curd but I have never tried as most of my cooking sessions were for specific purposes and gone very quickly.

I have used Meyer lemons( a sweeter lemon, closer to the orange family than lemon) limes and tangerines. One thing about citrus curds..they all look yellow when you cook them so if you want to tell yours apart you can add some food coloring I added one drop of green to my second batch of lime curd turning it a lovely light green color that did not affect the taste at all. The tangerine curd a tiny tiny hint of orange color to it so you could add a small drop of red or if you have orange use orange.

February 2014 batch of Lime curd with a drop of green food coloring to make it lime colored.

Flavors: all of these curds have a different flavors Meyer lemon is sweet tart and tangy and the lime a bit more of the tart and tang, the tangerine was the sweetest and everyone raved about it, it tasted a little too sweet to me so I want to try a different type of orange next time like a Valencia to see how that tastes.

I have used these curds on scones and as filling for cakes and on top of a giant sugar cookie I baked they are great as a filling and on their own and can be very addictive which is why it is nice that the recipe makes such a small amount!