I have never come across a lemon curd recipe that I have not wanted to consume in massive, even inadvisable quantities. Even the kind of lemon curd that they use as filling in those little pies you can get at the deli for 99 cents forces me to make weird-ecstatic faces while I eat it (I tend to try to eat these pies in private).
That said, this particular lemon curd recipe, whipped up by Mollie and eaten almost entirely by yours truly, is ridiculous. It’s the perfect combination of sweet and tart, and while we included a couple of suggestions for how to serve it below…honesty, you should probably just eat it straight from the jar. That’s what I did, and I just have to say: it was a hell of a good decision on my part.
Easy (And Delicious) Lemon Curd
With all of the rain we’ve been having in Northern California, the lemon tree in my backyard is heavy with zillions of beautiful, juicy lemons. What to do? Add sugar to them and put them on pie, obviously. My husband is so not a chocolate person (what’s wrong with him?), so desserts in our house typically end up being things like brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and Texas Sheet Cake (if you’ve never made this before, you have to; recipe coming up soon!)…which means that I usually end up eating whatever I made all by myself.
Fruity desserts, though? Totally his jam (haha; sorry).
P.S. This lemon curd is great eaten solo, as Jordan mentioned, but is also delicious poured over pound cake or cream cheese cake, added to parfaits, or as a filling for tart shells if you’re in the mood to get fancy. They also make adorable gifts if you add a little twine and a label to the lid, as pictured.
What You Need:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup fresh lemon juice
- Zest of 3 lemons (protip: a microplane makes zesting about 10,000x easier)
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
What You Do:
- In a microwave-safe bowl, mix together the sugar and the eggs until smooth.
- Whisk in the lemon juice, lemon zest, and butter.
- Cook uncovered in the microwave on high in one-minute intervals, whisking in between each interval, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Microwaves vary in temperature, but it usually takes me 7-11 minutes to achieve the consistency I’m going for.
- Store in the refrigerator (Mason jars are obviously the cutest storage option) for up to two weeks.
Mollie Ortolf is a Texas native and parent of two who is working to bring Southern flair to Northern California one monogram at a time.
