lemon curd, tart, sweet, and creamy

A lovely friend brought me a big bag of lemons. Now, I'm quite fond of lemons (also friends who bring you lemons). There are few things in the kitchen I think don't gain from a squeeze of lemon juice. (Advice from a friend: grind a lemon half down your garbage disposal after you've juiced it and the room will smell amazing, apparently). However, with these lovely yellow giants, I wanted to do something that was about lemons, not those many things that gain for their acquaintance; and in my mind lemon curd is just about as "about lemons" as you can get.

This is also one of the things I made for Mother's Day brunch for my mom, aunt, and grandmother, but I didn't take any pictures or make any notes, because I was busy being a good daughter, niece, and granddaughter. And eating pie. Before breakfast. You do get pictures of that pie, though, once I put them up. (I made it the day before).

I'm quite fond of lemon curd. You can put it on scones (I love scones), muffins, any breakfast treat you can imagine; you can fill pies and tarts with it; and I wouldn't be at all opposed to drizzling a bit of it over some grilled asparagus, but I don't think everyone would follow me that far. You should make some. It makes a great gift. Buy some of those little mason jars (or big mason jars, if you're a generous sort of guy or gal) and dazzle your friends. 

Lemon Curd
Thank you AJ for the lemons
6 lemons, juiced (about 1 C juice) (Do use actual lemons here, not bottled lemon juice. As aforementioned, this is all about the lemons, so the better your lemon juice, the better the curd will be)
1 1/2 C sugar
6 large eggs
8 Tb butter, salted 

For this, you're going to need a double boiler. Ideally, you want a pot filled with about an inch of boiling water; and then you want a metal bowl sitting on top of the pot. The bottom of the bowl should not be touching the water. The point of this is to not burn your curd. This way, the steam is what's heating your bowl, not the flame. This is a lot less extreme and a lot more consistent of a temperature. I don't own a pot or a bowl and was too lazy to rent one out from the dorm front desk (and even if I did, all my bowls are plastic...), so I made do with a glass pie tin precariously suspended over a small frying pan with a very shallow amount of boiling water. I felt very MacGyver-ish.

In the metal bowl over the boiling water, whisk together the lemon juice and sugar. In a separate bowl, beat the six eggs. Pour them slowly into the lemon juice and sugar mixture, whisking frantically. We want the eggs to cook as little as possible. If you're an overachiever, I'd temper this. (See here for what on earth tempering is). A few flecks of egg doesn't bother me, though. 

Whisk the curd in the double boiler for 10-15 minutes, until it thickens. If you want to taste the curd at this point, you can. Remember that we're adding butter later, which will mellow it out a little. This particular recipe is a bit more lemony than sweet, which is how I like it, but if you like it sweeter, toss in a bit more sugar.

Remove the pot from the heat. If you're an overachiever but didn't temper when you added the eggs, here you can strain the mixture instead. I didn't do this, either.

Throw in the butter cubes, and stir until they melt. It will be a little loose, but don't worry. It will thicken as it cools. Spoon the curd into jars or bowls or what have you and stash in the refrigerator.  

Lemon curd on my banana-and-berry muffins 

Lemon curd always makes me want to throw a tea party. What do you like with your curd? What are your favorite things to cook with lemons?