- Did somebody ask for a drop of sunshine in a jar?
This dreamy, creamy, zingy and bright lemon curd
is just the thing to cheer you up on a dull gray day,
or whenever you want!
Hey, you're watching Preppy Kitchen,
where I, John Kanell, teach you
how to make delicious homemade dishes
to share with your family and friends!
This lemon curd whips up in a few minutes
with a couple ingredients,
so let's get started!
First off is an optional step, but I think is so worthwhile.
We're gonna pulse our sugar with the lemon zest.
It does two things:
one, it'll break those lemon zest pieces up really small
and two, it'll get all that oil
exploded into the sugar
and really infuse a lot of flavor there.
If you don't have a food processor, it's totally okay!
Just mince your lemon zest really fine
and then scrunch it up in a plastic bag,
or any kind of bag,
with the sugar.
It'll infuse right in there, too, and be also delicious.
Okay, one cup, or 200 grams,
of regular old granulated sugar
into the bowl of your food processor.
And now, we're going to be zesting some lemons in here.
I suggest two.
If you wanted to do three, no one would stop you.
Zest, zest, zest.
Oh, my gosh.
Lemon zest, is, like, one of my favorite ingredients.
My mother-in-law calls these naked lemons.
I thought it was very charming. (laughs)
Ah. Already, it smells amazing.
If a recipe doesn't have vanilla in it,
it's gonna have lemon.
That's how it works.
Just in case you were wondering.
Okay, lemon two!
And wait 'til you see the color this sugar turns.
It's, like, the most beautiful light pastel yellow.
Do you know what time it is?
It's time to whizz, whizz, whizz!
So,
I've been spending a lot of time with the boys lately,
so apologies in advance.
Okay, whizz whizz whizz.
(food processor whizzing)
Little shake.
There's always something stuck on the bottom.
(food processor whizzing)
Alright. I wanna show you the color of this sugar now,
but then we're gonna move on.
Okay, look at that! So pretty!
Oh my gosh. Do you see this? It's amazing.
Set it aside, and now it's on to the lemon juice!
For the lemon juice, we're gonna need some fresh lemons.
Do not use that pre-made stuff.
That is not the best.
And then, we're give 'em a chop.
Nice and juicy.
If you want, you can roll them out, too.
You can just, like, roll, roll, roll, roll, roll.
That could help you juice them faster, too.
Now, we're gonna strain the juice into a bowl
and measure out about half a cup
or maybe, like, 100mL.
Little bit less if you want.
Okay.
Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.
This is a bartender and a baker's best friend.
All that juice out there.
I adapted my mom's recipe for lemon curd.
I grew up eating so much of this stuff!
It's one of her favorite things to make
because her very most favorite cake in the world
was quite delicious, but she made it so often
that I don't actually love it anymore,
is a lemon roll cake.
It's delicious, like, soft, soft,
just, like, melts-in-your-mouth cake,
rolled around lemon curd
topped with whipped cream and berries.
It's actually amazing.
Whenever I request a cake, she's always like,
"The lemon roll cake?"
I was like, "No."
(laughs)
"I want the Buche de Noel."
Which is my favorite cake.
In one of my last lemon recipes,
I think it was for my lemon cookies,
which you can click up here for.
Those are so soft and delicious.
I had a bunch of suggestions for using Meyer lemons,
and it brought back painful memories
because at my old, old, old house
I used to have this ancient Meyer lemon tree
that was, like, laden with lemons.
I'm gonna show you a picture.
It was just so amazing.
So amazing.
Tons of lemons all the time.
It was like a Greek boy's dream.
Totally done.
Now, it's time to get that pot out!
So now, you want to get a nice, heavy pot
because if they have a thicker wall,
it'll transfer the heat more gently.
If you get a pot with a thin wall here,
you're gonna scorch everything on the side,
which sucks!
It makes it seem like you're a bad cook or baker,
but it's really your tools.
So if you can find one, get a thick pot.
We're using a smaller one for this.
Now it's time for six egg yolks.
Now, you can use the whites for something else.
I highly suggest whipping up an angel food cake.
Click up here for that recipe.
It is so delicious.
Right, Brian?
(laughs)
We only need the yolks, so the whites go here.
Beautiful soft color.
This one's breaking.
It's okay.
Okay, if you get a broken yolk,
it's not the end of the world.
You can have some egg white in here.
A lot of curd recipes actually call for a whole egg as well,
so it's a forgiving recipe.
Don't stress.
But notice, I am gonna use this for
either an angel food cake or a meringue
or a meringue-based frosting,
so I do not want to have any yolks in there.
My mom, we were making this recipe,
she would strain the egg yolks
because there's other parts of the egg yolk,
I think they're conventionally called
the twister, et cetera, et cetera.
Oh, my gosh.
These ones are so beautiful, but so delicate.
Anyhow, a lot of times
people will strain the egg yolks into here,
but we're going to strain them at the very end,
when this is done.
Look at that beautiful color.
Do you see this?
Magic.
Thank you, chicken.
Alright, last egg yolk.
In you go.
Set this aside. This is five egg whites, 'cause we lost one.
Alright, now, give those yolks a quick whisk,
don't go crazy,
but then, we're going to add that sugar in.
Oh, my gosh.
So nice.
Not wasting any ingredients here.
Give it a whisk.
Alright.
Alright, so you see this beautiful golden color right now,
and now, we're gonna whisk whisk whisk,
and it's gonna lighten in color.
You're gonna dissolve some of the sugar,
really get everything in there,
and now, you can see it's a nice, lemon-y color.
And you got a good workout too.
Right, look at this color!
So, like, just
wonderful and cheerful.
Whisking really felt good.
And now,
the lemon juice goes in.
So just stir it in.
Whisk, whisk, whisk.
Okay, and once it's all mixed in there,
we're gonna take this onto a low heat
and just be hanging out there.
Stir, stir, stir, stir, stir until it thickens up.
Some people like to use a double-boiler for this,
but I have found that to be the biggest pain in the world.
And what you're looking for on this
is not necessarily the temperature,
but the thickness.
So you'll see it thicken up.
We'll do a wooden spoon test.
Just come on over and take a look.
Okay, so once it's on low heat,
you're just gonna whisk whisk whisk
and for this one, I'm using a French whisk.
So, unlike a balloon whisk, which is wider,
the French whisk can really, kind of, reach into that corner
and you're not gonna get any burnt bits.
It'll be here for a little while.
Just keep whisking, and keep an eye on that consistency.
Once you see that that curd starts thickening up
and slowly bubbling,
it is time to take it off heat.
If you have any questions,
try dipping a wooden spoon in,
and you can see that the curd should cling on.
It's not gonna be slipping and sliding.
It's gonna be staying in place where you didn't touch it.
Remove that from the heat,
and now it's time to add the butter in.
Once your curd's all nice and thick,
it's time to drop in 1/2 of a cup, or 113 grams,
of cold butter
that you've cut into tablespoon-sized pieces.
So, plop them in,
and we're gonna whisk it up.
The butter will help cool things down,
and of course, butter makes everything more delicious,
it'll also help your curd thicken up and set in the fridge.
Whisk, whisk, whisk.
And this does smell amazing.
You can let me know in the comments
what you like using curd for.
I think that lemon curd cupcakes are especially popular.
This would be an amazing recipe
to pop into my lemon cupcakes.
You can click up there for that.
That is all incorporated!
So now, it's gonna be time to pop this into a bowl
to chill for a while.
You have a couple choices.
You could directly pour this into a mason jar
or something sealable right now,
or, if you're using it to fill a cake, cupcakes,
or some other purpose,
then you want to cool it down ASAP,
which is what I'll be doing,
so I'm gonna pour this into a large bowl.
But, because I'm a little extra,
I will be straining this.
You do not have to strain your lemon curd,
but I think that part of the joy in eating it
is that glossy, delicious silky texture,
and that zest, while delicious, will mar it.
You'll have little, tiny bits in there.
Texture I don't want.
So,
use a strainer,
and we're just gonna strain this in.
You can do it in batches,
'cause this is very thick.
You'll have to be kind of forcing it out.
So here, if you were, maybe,
a little bit less careful about whisking,
and some parts got a bit overcooked,
this'll fix everything right up.
No one will ever know!
If you're wondering, you can totally find
some nicer, store-bought lemon curds,
it tastes delicious,
but this'll never taste the same.
This will always be so much more amazing.
More zing, more flavor, more mouth feel,
less preservatives, and it's so easy!
This lemon curd is destined for my lemon cake.
I'm gonna fill that up.
You can click up here for the recipe.
It is a zingy, delicious cake
which is perfect with this too.
This lemon curd is gonna go into the fridge,
but first, a little spoonful for me never hurt.
If you like this recipe, check out my lemon playlist!
All of my favorite lemon recipes,
and this will go perfectly in and on
so many of them, too!
It's like sunshine on a spoon.
It's delicious!
Thanks so much for watching!
If you like my videos, hit that like button and subscribe,
and I'll see you in the next video!