Recipe Review: Lemon Curd - Plus Bonus Idea for How to Use it

 As some of you may know, one of my favourite chefs is Jamie Oliver. I greatly admire his passion for food and I have built up quite the collection of his cookbooks. This past Christmas I wanted to give some family members a homemade, more personal gift. That is when I stumbled across Jamie’s lemon curd recipe, which is definitely worth trying. And can be found in “Jamie Oliver’s Christmas Cookbook.”

How would I rate the difficulty of this recipe? It is not challenging as long as you are careful. You do need to ensure you keep a close eye on your curd when going through the heating process. If you are using eggs to make any kind of curd or custard the proper temperature is key. If you add in the eggs when the mixture is too hot you risk turning your creation into a scramble instead of a silky, ribbon-like curd. Therefore, you want your liquid base to be cooled to the point where it is faintly warmer than room temperature. In my opinion, this is the only tricky part of creating this delightful treat.

Next, the taste. In one word, WOW! Perfectly describes this captivating flavour. It is creamy, zesty and oh so buttery. The curd is sweet with the perfect amount of sour, tang and pucker. This dessert is so aromatic that when you open a jar containing this lemony extravagance, your body will experience things it has never felt for a curd before. Your heart will flutter with joy, your taste buds will be eager with anticipation, as all of your other senses just beg to experience this magic. You could eat this decadent creation on its own, letting it be the solo star of the show. Wanting nothing else to hinder its performance. Or you could attempt to compliment it with something else, hoping to only enhance its splendour. The possibilities are left to your imagination.

When it came to gifting this to my family, I placed the curd into some adorable jars that I got at my local “Dollarama.” They looked so cute that it was almost difficult to give them away. Nevertheless, the smiles that my family portrayed made this all worth the process. They bragged about how delicious it was and how they could not stop eating it. When you recreate this wonderful recipe, I hope you can experience this type of joy as well, and give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done.

 

Here is where the bonus idea comes to play. In my previous blog, I wrote about an incredible, syrupy pie that I had made for Christmas. Well, I had so much pie dough left over from that recipe, so I used it to make mini pie shells. How did I do this? I got out my muffin tins, sprayed them with a non-stick spray and lined them carefully with the delicate dough. I baked them in the oven at 375 degrees for approximately 10 minutes. Ensure to keep a close watch on these beauties so they do not overbake. Once the shells have cooled you can go ahead and fill them with the delicious lemon curd. Top with some whipped cream and there you have it. An easy, tantalizing, scrumptious dessert that you can share with your loved ones and watch the joy spread across their faces as they take that first bite.

Mmm mmm mmm… Enjoy!