So I know January came and went and there was no new posts from Susi's Kochen und Backen. Honestly this time I don't have much of an excuse. After another sickness ridden month of December (this time the whole family) I realized once January came that all my momentum, all of my mojo, was simply gone. I don't know how to explain it properly, but just the thought of cooking, photographing the meal and then writing a post was too much to comprehend. I guess I needed another month to start getting myself back on track. After months of pretty much being useless, courtesy of the lovely disease "Valley Fever", my house needed some well deserved TLC as did my family. I haven't cooked anything fancy and quite frankly, it felt good to not have some of my self-imposed pressure looming over my head. However, after this long hiatus I'm ready to jump back into the blog world. This time around I will try to take things a little slower though and take a little bit more care of myself in the process. A big thank you, to all of you who decided to stick around. Your support truly means the world to me :o)
Anyhow, what do you make when life hands you Meyer Lemons? Of course, desserts! Not that any of us needed more sweets after the indulgence of the holidays, but my little lemon tree in the backyard was like the little engine that could and provided us with a fantastic amount of Meyer Lemons this year. With a freeze warning looming for Arizona the last week of December, I knew we had to pick all of our lemons as soon as possible so we wouldn't lose any of the precious fruit to the frost.
The first thing on my "to-do" list was a lemon curd. I love anything citrus and knew that this would go over well with the family also. Meyer Lemon's are less tart than store bought, think of them as a cross between a lemon and a mandarin. This recipe comes courtesy of Recipe Girl who adapted the recipe from Gourmet. The curd itself is certainly not a low-calorie dish, but is worth every indulgent spoon full. It is creamy, luscious goodness and with that, worth every calorie.
The recipe is not hard to make, all you need is about 15 minutes and a good stirring arm. Lemon juice, zest and sugar are whisked together in a bowl along with eggs. This mixture is set over simmering water in a double boiler and this is where the fun starts. You keep whisking away until the mixture is nice and thick and reaches a temperature of 160 F. While whisking, a stick of butter gets incorporated in 4 additions. After the curd is nice, thick and glossy, all that's left to do is cover the surface with plastic wrap (to prevent a skin from forming) and set in the fridge until cool.
If you are wondering what to do with lemon curd, let me tell you there is a plethora of options of what you can do with it, here are a few suggestions:
- Fill a white layer cake with the curd
- Use it as a filling in a pre-baked tart shell
- Spread it on a muffin, scone or biscuit
- Fill crepes with it
- Fold in some heavy whipped cream to make a wonderful light mousse
- Use it in a trifle
- Use it as a dip for fresh fruit
- Use it as a dip for homemade gingersnaps
Meyer Lemon Curd
~makes about 1 2/3 cups~
Ingredients:
3 to 4 medium Meyer Lemons (about 1 lb.)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
Preparation:
Finely grate enough zest from lemons to measure 2 teaspoons and squeeze enough juice to measure 1/2 cup. Whisk together zest, juice, sugar, and eggs in a metal bowl and add butter. Set bowl over a saucepan of simmer water and cook, whisking. Once mixture gets warm, add the butter in 4 additions, whisking well after each until incorporated. Continue whisking until thickened and smooth and an instant read thermometer registers 160 degrees F. This can take anywhere from 6 to 15 minutes (depending on how well your bowl is conducting heat). Force curd through a fine sieve set into another bowl. Serve warm or cover surface of curd with plastic wrap and cool completely.
*Of course you can make this recipe with regular lemons as well. In that case increase the sugar to 3/4 cup. This curd will keep well covered in the refrigerator for about 1 week.
Adapted from: Recipe Girl and Gourmet
