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!

Strawberry-Oatmeal Bars

I know six people moving in the month of July.

Yes, six.

I'm not really sure why they all wanted to move when it was 8 million degrees outside, but more power to them. Way to sweat out those toxins!

Two of these six were victims of one of my baking moods last week, which resulted in 3 recipes I'd never made before. I'm posting the best now, with hopes of getting around to the others at some point.

Strawberry-Oatmeal Bars

1 c flour

1 c oats (I used Irish Steel-Cut Oats)

1/2 c brown sugar

1/4 t baking soda

1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg (I LOVE fresh ground)

1/2 c butter

For Strawberry Filling:

1 1/2 c sliced fresh strawberries

1/8 c water

1/2 c sugar

Put all ingredients for strawberry filling in small pot and bring to boil, let simmer until thickened, about 25-30 minutes. It should look like jam. (I put it in the freezer for a bit to get it cooled and thick quicker.) If you don't feel like making the filling, you can just slap some jelly in there, but then you don't have the satisfaction of saying you made the filling from scratch.

Meanwhile, mix flour, oats, sugar, soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg together. Cut in the butter until it makes coarse crumbs. Press into a Pam'd 9x9 square pan until it makes a crust, reserving 1/2 c of mixture. When the strawberry filling is thick, pour on top of the crust, then sprinkle with the reserved crumbs. Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes.

These turned out SOOOOO good! The spices made it really great. I tossed them in on impulse, and to tell the truth, I put a bit of cinnamon in with the strawberries while they were simmering too. The filling would also be really good with any fruit: apples, cranberries, blueberries, raspberries, whatever you can think up. It was kind of like a fruit crumble, but in bar form.

I hope Brian and Julie and Rachael, Amy, and Emily all enjoyed the goodies. The best thing about cooking when you're single is having someone to cook for. =D

Sink or Swim? Swim, for sure!