Zingy Golden Lemon Curd

Let’s just be honest. Lemon curd seems scary. Also while we’re here, I hate the word “curd.” It just doesn’t sound appetizing – is it just me or does anyone else feel that way? Anyway, I genuinely was scared to make lemon curd for a while. The reason? Because you cook with eggs on a low heat and could accidentally cook the eggs and create lemony sugary scrambled eggs! But guess what? This beautiful, zingy golden lemon curd is actually pretty easy to make! Especially if you follow a recipe and, of course, follow your instincts. Even if you think you don’t have cooking instincts, YOU DO. If you know how to eat good food and know what it should taste like, then you’ve got instincts.

I digress. So, why do I call this zingy? Because it’s got that tart beautiful ZING that all lemon curd should have. It’s sour, sweet, tart, soft, kind of gelatinous and smooth. If I had to choose one word to describe it, it’s zing. So that’s what I went with here.

The only issue I had with making lemon curd was actually undercooking it for fear that I was going to overcook it. This isn’t a big deal because if you do undercook lemon curd (it will just be more runny and less thick than what lemon curd typically is) you can put it back on the stove and cook it again until it reaches your desired thickness.

There’s really no one size fits all when it comes to lemon curd. There are two different kinds: golden and a pale yellow. This recipe falls along the lines of a golden lemon curd. We use fresh lemon juice and vibrant egg yolks to give it that beautiful color. I also add a little bit of corn starch to this recipe to keep it thick and prevent crystallization.