A good lemon curd recipe for me, should literally be a jar of sunshine. Gloriously vibrant yellow – the culmination of lemon juice, zest and deep orange egg yolks.
I want a lemon curd recipe that’s thick like Nutella so you can spread it on hot toast and it will hold it’s shape allowing you to have a few indulgent peaks of lemon curd to bite into.
It should also be perfectly balanced in flavour with a little leaning towards the sharp rather than sweet side of things. I want to know I’m eating lemon curd; not some yellow sweet gel that has a hint of citrus.
I don’t do hints; I want to be smacked around the gob with so much lemon tartiness that just before my cheeks implode and my lips pout to the point they are about to fall off my face the sweetness of the sugar kicks in and leaves a perfectly balanced, slightly tart, lemon curd dancing on my tastebuds.
I appreciate I’ve just ‘gone-off-on-one’ but that’s what I want! Now add to this the warmth and subtle hint of thyme (OK, now I want a hint…) and I think you get the perfect lemon curd. The thyme just works really, really well. Try it.
I recently had some home made lemon curd that my mum made and I forgot how much I love a good lemon curd! The very next day I hit the kitchen armed with a load of lemons and some thyme (as in the herb, not the duration) a quick phone call to my mum (how do you make lemon curd again??!) and here we are!
This lemon curd recipe is inspired by my mum but with a little addition of some thyme, which is a flavour combination I’ve been playing with for the last few years; one of my favourite desserts that I make for some of my dining events is my citron and thyme tart and I just knew thyme would compliment the lemon curd – which it does!
Making a lemon curd couldn’t be easier and this lemon curd recipe with egg yolks and cornflour is a bit of a cheats lemon curd recipe but is virtually foolproof and doesn’t compromise on what a lemon curd should be.
Lemon curd recipes traditionally make a lemon curd a bit like a custard (using eggs gently heated to thicken a sauce); obviously this is prone to being over-heated and the eggs curdling or turning into little bits of scrambled egg in your curd opposed to the silky smooth lemon curd with a richness from egg yolks you were looking for.
This is my cheats lemon curd recipe; this one uses cornflour as the main thickening agent but still incorporates egg yolks and butter to give the richness and depth of flavour that a lemon curd should have.
Without further a do; here’s the recipe:
Lemon Curd Recipe with Thyme – Ingredients:
4 lemons – juice and zest
100g caster sugar
30g butter
4 egg yolks (3 if large)
300 ml water
5 tbl cornflour
2 sprigs of thyme – leaves removed
Tiny pinch salt
Lemon Curd Method:
- Lightly whisk the egg yolks into a large bowl and reserve
- Add the cornflour to 1/2 cup of the water and mix to a paste and reserve.
- In a saucepan add the remaining water, lemon juice, zest, sugar, butter and salt. Bring the curd to a light boil and ensure everything is well combined.
- Pass the mixture through a sieve to remove any pips, the zest, etc.
- Now add the thyme and cornflour mix (stirring frequently as you add this) and return to the heat – bring to a light simmer for a few minutes stirring throughout. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes.
- After a couple of minutes; add a tablespoon of the hot curd to the egg yolks – mixing the egg yolks thoroughly as you do, you may increase the volume of curd you are adding to the egg yolks once you’ve added half a dozen tablespoons. Once you have about a cup of curd added to the eggs; just pour the egg yolk mixture back into the rest of the lemon curd and combine thoroughly.
NB. If you add the egg yolks to the curd first they will curdle. So add the curd (tablespoon by tablespoon) to the egg yolks. Don’t re-heat.
- Voila! Your lemon curd is complete; but be aware it will thicken a lot as it cools.
- Pour into a sterilised jar and store in the fridge.
Goes well with a hot buttered toast for a sneaky quick treat or a perfect filling for a lemon meringue tart (see my recipe as featured on BBC 3CR Weekend Kitchen Show).