Brielle's Avalon

Because my tree gave me a LOT of lemons this year, I like lemons, I like lemon curd and all the things you can do with it…like make lemon pies and tarts, fill doughnuts, top scones with it at tea, put it on ice cream or sherbet, put it on pancakes, crepes or waffles, use it as a filling between cake layers or sandwich cookies…so many yummy options!!!

enough jars or a pie crust for the lemon curd

Zest and juice of 2 or 3 lemons

2/3 c sugar

4 large egg yolks

Dash of salt (about 1/8 tsp

6 Tbsp unsalted butter. If you use salted butter (like I do) don’t add the salt.

Now to get down to business making this stuff.

Put some jars in a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil.

Turn off the heat and take out a couple to dry upside-down on a tea towel or paper towel til you’re ready for them.You’ll need 2 8-oz or 1 15-oz jar. if you’re making a double batch use twice as many jars. If you’re making a pie skip this step.

Zest 2 or 3 lemons

Whiz the lemon zest and sugar together in a food processor. This makes the zest smaller and less conspicuous and seems to make it more lemony and it breaks the zests into smaller pieces that cook down better.

Juice the lemons

Separate the eggs. Today I used my grandmother’s egg separator. My chickens have really dark yolks because they get to eat anything they can catch. Sometimes they’re darker than this. Chickens are not vegetarians!

Set the whites aside for later covering with a tea towel to keep curious noses out. Make an egg white omlette, meringue for cookies or pie or whatever you can think of.

Put together your double boiler. Don’t have one? (I don’t) Then use a larger pan with about 2 inches of water and a smaller pan for mixing/cooking in.

In the smaller, top pan put the lemon juice, straining out any pips and pulp,

then add the sugar and zest

and finally the yolks.

Whisk together and cook til it starts to thicken and coats the back of a spoon (you can leave a trail in it with your finger), about 10 minutes or so,

Take it off the heat and whisk in the butter

Put into the jars

or a pie crust, whichever you’re making today…or both!

Use at tea, breakfast, elevensies, brunch, dessert, midnight snacks or in any direction your imaginative taste buds take you.