Ever since I was a child I always wondered why Lemon Meringue Pie was so distracted. Sure, the meringue was pretty, and I guess the crust held everything together, but why bother with any of that stuff when the lemony filling was clearly the best part of the pie by several orders of magnitude? Silly pie makers.

Then I discovered lemon curd. Which is really just the lemony stuff in a jar, simultaneously qualifying it as heaven in a jar as well. Yum. I love to have a jar (or three) of lemon curd in my fridge to serve with anything that can be improved with a dollop of creamy, lemony goodness (which is almost everything). I love it with shortbread or angelfood cake, with fruit, on scones, spread on toast, or baked into a loaf of challah or brioche. It’s also quite good on a spoon.

Now, I should mention that the use of the word “perfect” in my titling of this recipe is rather self-serving as this is my perfect curd. If you don’t like yours thick, lemony, pucker-inducing, and bright yellow, you might want to try something else. But this curd is my idea of perfection, so I think you should give it a try anyways.

The method is a bit odd. I read about it Fine Cooking and it sounded like such a neat idea that I decided to try it with my recipe. It is a definite improvement on the standard way of making lemon curd. Pure genius. Thanks, FC.

Perfect Lemon Curd

½ cup butter, softened
¾ cup white sugar
3 eggs
1½ tbsp lemon zest
½ cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
½ tsp lemon extract
8 drops yellow food colouring

Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs, and then everything else. It will look lumpy, curdled, and rather gross. That’s ok. Pour the mixture into a saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the curd has thickened substantially. It should easily coat the spoon/spatula you’re stirring with.

Pour the curd through a fine sieve, pressing on the leftover zest to get as much curd out as possible. Store the curd in glass jars in the fridge. It will last about a month.

What’s your favourite way to eat lemon curd? Remember, every post you comment on is an entry in the monthly draw!