Lemon Curd

I'm adverse to the word "curd." It brings to mind expired milk. Upon researching, wikipedia did not give any peek into the derivation of the word curd in the sense of fruit curd.

If you are put off by the word curd, just look at this picture.

Yuuuum.

If you've never had lemon curd, it tastes similar to the center of a lemon bar, or the filling of a lemon pie. It's cream, thick, and super lemony. I found a recipe in Rachel Ray magazine last fall, and only recently pulled it out to make. As I'm on spring break, I've had lots of extra time to do some cooking, so I thought it would be fun to do some seasonal cooking since my favorite season is upon us. What says spring more than crisp, fresh lemon?

Fruit curd is essentially egg yolk, sugar, butter, and fruit juice/zest. Ummm....yes to all of those things, please.

Essentially you take a saucepan, mix together sugar, egg yolk (and some whites), butter, and a ton of juice and zest. My recipe called for 1 cup (about 6 lemons' worth) of juice and 1/4 c (about 3 lemons' worth) of zest.

Here's the middle of the juicing process.

Lots of juicing.

And lots of zesting.

My first try ended up a little soupy, but the flavor was amazing! Here's some more photos-

Lemon Curd is great on cookies, stirred into yogurt, on ice cream, possibilities are endless. Think of it like caramel, except it tastes spring-y.

Sink or swim? Sink on the consistency, swim on the flavor. Happy spring, cats and kittens!