I've yet to find a purchased lemon curd that comes close to homemade. Ones I've used in the past that were acceptable were Stonewall Kitchen and Barefoot Contessa brands, but I would only use them in a pinch and for spreading between layers of cake or a similar application. I wouldn't choose to serve them on pound cake or where they would be the primary focus of a dessert. It pains me to say that, because I love both of those brands. Maybe it's the nature of lemon (& lime) curd not to do so well when adapted to mass production.

My favorite (& easy) lemon curd is from a Cooking Light recipe for Lemon Swirl Cheesecake. It's truly lemony, tart and not too sweet. Taste is subjective, but that's how I like my lemony foods. I don't care for them to have the sugariness of a lemon drop and hate the aftertaste of artificial flavorings.

A friend passed that cheesecake recipe on to me. I'll try to find it, but I can't put my hands on it right now. I know it's available on the web.

Here's the recipe I like -
This recipe goes with Roasted Chicken with Lemon Curd, Fresh-Fruit Pizza with Lemon Curd, Lemon-Swirled Cheesecake, Brown Sugar Shortcakes with Berries and Lemon Curd, Double-Lemon Soufflés

Yield
1 1/3 cups (serving size: 1 tablespoon)

Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
2 large eggs
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 large lemons)
2 tablespoons butter or stick margarine
Preparation
Combine the first 3 ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring with a whisk. Cook until sugar dissolves and mixture is light in color (about 3 minutes). Stir in lemon juice and butter; cook for 5 minutes or until mixture thinly coats the back of a spoon, stirring constantly with a whisk. Cool. Cover and chill (the mixture will thicken as it cools).

Note: Lemon Curd can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. You can easily double the recipe and freeze half of it in a heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag. Thaw in the refrigerator, and use within 1 week of thawing.

I had always made my own lemon curd, and a while ago sampled my first curd from a jar. It simply is not the same. They probably use something horrid to thicken it because it does have that plastic texture. I have had friends assure me that good curd can be bought in a jar, but it is so easy to make at home I won't bother to buy it again.

We eat quite a lot of lemon curd & I can vouche for it freezing very well.

/tricia

I have made my own lemon curd and purchased a couple of different brands. Now the only brand I would ever consider purchasing is the Crabtree & Evelyn brand. It may still be very expensive; the last time I bought it (over 10 years ago) it was about $7 a jar.

Teresa

Thanks for the suggestions and advice. Amck, your recipe looks good, and it's smaller than the ones I found, so I'm going to try it. Thanks :-)

I use Colleen's recipe, it's quick and easy and made in the microwave. I don't like the commercial varieties, I think they use the same stuff they use in canned pie fillings, something called Clear Jel if you're a home canner. It gives the product that "gelatinous goo" texture that I dislike so much.

The "sneaky notes" on this recipe are Colleen's, LOL.

Lemon Butter (ColleenÂs)
125g/4oz butter (NOT margarine)
3/4 cup lemon juice (about 3 lemons' worth)
all the rind from the lemons, grated
1 cup sugar (I use superfine)
4-5 eggs, thoroughly beaten
Put butter, sugar, lemon juice and lemon rind into a micro-safe bowl. Cook on high about 3 minutes, stirring halfway through. Butter should be melted and sugar dissolved. Beat in eggs and microwave in 30-second bursts until it thickens, about 2 minutes. Whisk after each burst. Cool and pour into sterilised jars. Cover immediately. Store in refrigerator after opening, or even before opening to prolong the shelf life, which is short.
Makes about 3 medium sized jars.
Sneaky notes:
If you are making a _lot_ of this, for gifts, etc, I peel the rind off with a peeler and drop it into the blender. Then cut off the white pith with a paring knife. Making sure there are no seeds, drop lemon flesh into blender. Whizz it up until the rind is pulverised. You should end up with about 1 cup of juice/rind mix per batch, to account for the rind and aeration. You can double or triple the recipe, just use a bigger bowl and adjust the times.
I also use the blender to whizz the eggs. If they are not totally beaten, you can get little white strings from the egg white which don't look great.
If you overcook it and it separates, beat up an extra egg. Gradually mix separated (sounds much better than curdled, doesn't it?) mixture into egg. Repeat if necessary.

Annie

Ditto what Tricia said. Nothing beats homemade Lemon Curd. And, unless you don't eat it all in one sitting, it freezes very nicely.

Sol

Another microwave recipe. This is the one that I use:

Microwave Lemon Curd

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
finely grated (microplane) zest of 3 lemons
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

In a microwave proof bowl, melt the butter on High for 1-2 minutes.

In another bowl, combine the sugar, eggs, lemon zest and juice and blend and beat with a whisk.

Slowly whisk in the hot melted butter.

Microwave on High for 3-4 minutes until thickened, whisking well after each minute.

Store in the refrigerator.... (doesn't last long!)

Trader Joe's has a pretty good one and it's not too expensive,as I remember. If you happen to be in London(I know it happens all the time) Harrods has a good one. I agree that it is so easy to make that even in an emergency it's the quickest.I use Barbara Kafka's Microwave Gourmet. I think it might be identical to the recipe Annie gave. The real problem
is not sitting down with a spoon as soon as it's cool enough. It goes great with chocolate.

Wouldn't you know, lemons were on sale today! So, now that I have 1 1/3 cups of this wonderful creation (I used amck's recipe - seemed the simplest and least fat of those above - what do you use it for other than it being an ingredient?

It's wonderful with warm gingerbread!

/tricia

Oh gosh! Have it on toast, on muffins, on ice cream, swirled into oatmeal or yogurt! Anything you would use good jam or preserves for.

Nothing, repeat NOTHING beats home-made, especially when it comes to lemon curd/butter/cheese. The commercial ones aren't even half-reasonable pretenders.

I use this recipe:

Lemon Butter
6 lemons
500g sugar
6 eggs
125g butter

Beat eggs at high speed until light, add sugar. Place in a double saucepan with the butter and grated rind of 2 lemons. Squeeze out the juice of the lemons and add to the egg mixture. Cook over low heat until thick. Bottle and seal.

I like it on toast or scones, as a filling between cake layers, as a dip for fruit chunks, on top of ice cream on top of waffles, directly from a spoon! It goes very nicely as a filling for baked pastry tartlet cases.

Here's a really nice recipe. Try it with any fruit curd, and be generous with it!

Lemon Bread and Butter Pudding
Thoroughly grease a pie dish and one-third fill it with soft breadcrumbs. Dot with butter. Pour in enough milk to just cover the crumbs. Place a layer of lemon butter, about 1cm thick, over mixture. Then beat together 2 eggs and 2 tablespoons sugar. Add sufficient milk to the beaten eggs and sugar to fill the pie dish to within 1cm of the top. Pour into pie dish, stirring gently. Bake in a moderately slow oven for 45-60 minutes until custard is set. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

foodonastump, once upon a time Frozen Lemon Cream Sandwiches were popular here. Link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: frozen lemon creme sandwiches

Can you stand one more recipe? And I agree - nothing beats homemade :-)

Becky

* Exported from MasterCook *

Lemon Curd

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
4 teaspoons grated lemon peel
2/3 cup lemon juice
5 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter

In a Cuisinart, combine first 4 ingredients and blend until smooth. With motor running, add melted butter, pouring in a steady stream Whirl just until blended. In heavy pan, cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it bubbles and thickens, about 5 minutes. Cool slightly and refrigerate for up to 1 week. May be frozen for several months.

Yield:
"3 cups"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Oooh, thanks so much for this thread! I love lemon curd, and was shocked to find it so costly in a jar. I realize now that the cooked lemon pudding Mom used to make using eggs was really lemon curd. She would serve it layered with crisply baked rounds of meringue. Impossible to cut easily but so pretty when her ladies club came over.

I vote for having it with crystallized ginger scones.

Yep, homemade all the way. When I am in a pinch I will run down to the StoneWall Kitchen store and pick up a few jars. But other then that stick with homemade. I like mine on the tarrrrrt side, store bought just can't compare. NancyLouise

The following lemon curd recipe is part of Sol's recipe for meringue daisies. It is tart and very good. It is different from the ones above in that it uses only the egg yolk which is convenient when making it to go with meringues or an egg white based cake.

Lemon Curd

4 large egg yolks
½ cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
3 fluid ounces lemon juice
4 tbsp (2 oz) unsalted butter, softened
Pinch of salt
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

In a heavy noncorrodible saucepan, beat the yolks and sugar until blended. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, but
still liquid enough to pour. DonÂt allow the mixture to boil or it will curdle. When the curd has thickened, pour through a strainer. Cool, and store in airtight container in the fridge.
The curd will continue to thicken in the refrigerator.

I made some lemon curd yesterday, using amck's recipe. It has the colour of sunshine, just the right amount of tartness, and is delicious. I gave some to a friend who loved it, as did her SO. I plan to make more to take with me to work so I can spread the goodness.

This post inspired me to make lemon curd for the first time. I served it tonight over homeade gingerbread cake. Very good and dead easy to make. Yumm!

Factory made lemon goo (which is NOT lemon curd) is an abomination upon the face of the earth. IMO.

I made lemon curd at a cooking class at sur la table and it was to die for --- smooth, lemony, sweet, a beautiful shade of yellow, and better than any lemon curd that I've tried from a package. Unfortunately, it was so decadent (I think it used a dozen egg yolks), that I couldn't bring myself to make the recipe again. If I can find the recipe I'll post (but I think I tossed it to avoid temptation).

LOL, Colleen, I absolutely agree and I've never purchased any since you gave me that super easy microwave recipe, so a belated Thank You for that.

Annie

You are most welcome! I've had that recipe for decades, not sure where it came from originally. Love to see it spread around (as well as the lemon curd :-) ).