This is my go-to recipe whenever I have an excess of lemons. It’s fast and easy. I discovered the recipe several years ago in a book by Alice Medrich called Chocolate and the Art of Low Fat Desserts.
Sometimes I find lemon curds to be either too eggy or really rich. This lemon curd only uses 3 whole eggs and no butter (hence the “light” part of the recipe). The lemon flavor is bright and tart. The only drawback to this recipe is that the curd doesn’t set up enough to use as a filling in a cake. But it’s perfect over ice cream or strawberries and as a filling for lemon tarts. Heck, it’s perfect straight out of the bowl, on its own.
Recipe after the jump.
Light Lemon Curd
Adapted from Alice Medrich’s Chocolate and the Art of Low Fat Desserts
Makes about 1 1/2 cups
9 oz (1 cup) fresh lemon juice, strained
5 tsp lemon zest
7 oz (1 cup) sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
Combine sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest in a sauce pan over medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved, and mixture is starting to steam.
Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs. When lemon syrup is ready, slowly stream the hot syrup into the eggs, whisking constantly. Continue to whisk for 2 minutes.
Pour mixture back into the sauce pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, just until it boils. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Strain mixture into another bowl to remove zest and any bits of cooked eggs. Press plastic wrap onto the surface of the curd and refrigerate.
Made this last night using the tart recipe you sent. I didn’t have a tart pan so I used cupcake pans and made 18 mini tarts! I must really love someone cause I cut out aluminum foil circles to use while baking! The tart crust was easy to make and it turned out good. Linda likes the lemon curd. In my haste I thought the recipe called for 5 T of lemon zest instead of 5 t. So I went ahead and used all 5 Tablespoons of it! It is really lemony but I think it borders on bitterness. I will have to try making the curd again and cut back on the zest. I have pictures but will email that so you can see my many mini lemon tarts!
It’s official! This is the best lemon curd I’ve ever had. I love it! I even brought some with me to work today to have with my tea and lemon scone. Cindy made it extra lemony and I am thrilled. I am so glad you shared this recipe! Yum!
Ok..now you’ve done it. She wants me to make this BUT she also wants to make lemon tarts. Can you share a link to a lemon tart recipe or email it to me. I guess I know what I’ll be doing this weekend!!!
All I can say is “have bowl, will travel”. Today, I want to cry that you are so far away.
I had lemon curd at a tea room with my sister once and she didn’t eat hers. I almost knocked the waitress down when she reached to take it away. I adore lemon curd and that was the best lemon curd I’d had to date. I tried to get them to sell me a jar but no luck there. I can’t wait to try this and see how it rates compared to the tea shop’s.
I love that photo!