Homemade Lemon Curd

My favorite cupcake filling has to be citrus. Since I love citrus so much I decided to make lemon curd for my next canning experiment.

Tradition lemon curd combines simple ingredients in a super easy process to make pure perfection!  You probably already have the ingredients at home…Lemon, butter, sugar and eggs. Sometimes decadent treats don’t need substitutions…this is one of them.  Besides a little goes a long way unless you are slathering it across scones…but that’s another post.

Traditional Lemon Curd

• Juice of 4 large lemons
• 2.5 cups of sugar
• 3/4 cup sweet unsalted butter, melted
• 7 eggs, beaten and strained.  (Straining is important to remove any solids)

Ready for the simple steps…Here we go!

1.  Set up double boiler.  (No need to buy a fancy one from the store.  All you need is a sauce pan with 2 inches of water and a heat proof bowl to set on top.)

2. Add in all ingredients and stir to combine.

3.  Stir constantly over medium heat.  Curd will reduce and become thick, but not as thick as you are expecting.  Stop when it is more like syrup in order to avoid burning.

Now is the time to determine how you want to store it.  Canning is perfect for long term storage, freezing works just as well (if your freezer isn’t full of other baked goods fun), or you can use it immediately in cupcakes. :-D

Canning is my new obsession and the jars make the perfect for giving as gifts.

You can follow basic instructions for canning on Savvy Eats or in any canning book.  The lemon curd needs 1/4 inch head space and boiling water canning for 20 minutes.

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However I’m not always so normal and traditional.  If you stop by It All Changes you’ll see that I have a lot of food issues.  My body has decided things like butter and sugar do not make it happy.  I’m really excited to give lemon curd to friends for gifts but I wanted some sort of citrus curd of my own.  After scouring the internet for Vegan Lemon Curd recipes I decided to combine two and make…

Vegan Lime Curd

(adapted from Vegansauras! and That’s One Tough Cookie)

**Confession: I made lime because I used all the lemon for the traditional version.  Really you can use any citrus fruit.**

• 1.5 cups lime juice
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1.5 cups beet sugar (can substitute white sugar if desired)
• 4 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp Earth Balance
• 1/4 cup unsweetened plain almond milk
• 1/8 cup plain non-dairy creamer (I used soy)

1.  Pour lime juice, water, sugar, corn starch and salt in to sauce pan.  If using fresh limes add zest to this mixture.

2.  On medium heat, whisk quickly until mixture comes to full boil. Stop stirring and allow to boil for one minute.  Meanwhile clean up corn starch snow over other ingredients.

3.  Remove thickened mixture from heat and add Earth Balance, almond milk, and creamer.  Stir until fully combined.

4.  Add to storage containers.  Mason jars are great for the fridge where it will keep for up to 2 weeks.  Use plastic when freezing which makes it last longer.

**Just a small note:  Citrus curds do not keep as long as other canned items.  If canning, use within 3 months.  If refrigerating, use within 2 weeks.  If freezing, use within 9 months.  Or you could be like me and eat it in a week.  They taste great in yogurt or cupcakes.  :-D**

What’s your favorite cupcake filling?

Guest post courtesy of Cynthia from It All Changes