I had 72 eggs in my refrigerator the other day. You'd think my father's chickens would slow down a little with the snow and freezing temps, but they're laying those eggs like gangbusters. With 6 dozen eggs in my fridge, there was little room for anything else! I quickly solicited the help of my Facebook friends. Within a few minutes, I had all kinds of ideas that required many eggs such as: quiche, flan, chocolate mousse, cheesecake, Lyonnaise salad, fritatta, creme brulee, pavlova, souffle, okonomiyaki, pound cake, eggnog, crepes, tortilla Espanola, and a couple of suggestions for egging Justin Beiber. Yes, to all of the above suggestions. But one recurring suggestion stood out - lemon curd, lemon curd, lemon curd. With anticipated snow and a probable day off of work, I had all the time in the world to make this easy recipe while canning enough to give away. I found a few recipes that sounded good, tripled it, and added a couple extra egg yolks in the end because the curd was not thickening as much as I'd liked.
Lemon Curd - makes about 3 pints
20 egg yolks3 cups sugar
about 8 lemons (Meyer lemons preferably) totalling about 1 1/2 cups of juice
3 sticks butter, cut into chunks
zest of all the lemons, finely chopped
In a heavy pot over medium heat, whisk yolks and sugar. Add lemon juice and stir gently and constantly with a wooden spoon. Do not boil. Reduce heat to low to prevent curd from boiling. Continue to heat and stir for about 15 minutes or until thickened and curd coats the back of a spoon.
Remove from heat. Add chunks of butter and stir gently until melted. Pour curd through sieve into large bowl. Gently stir curd in sieve to work curd through and catch any solids. Stir in zest.
Ladle into hot jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace and process in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes. Remove lid and let sit for another 5 minutes. Remove from canner and do not disturb while cooling. Lemon curd is shelf stable for only about 2-3 months after processing in a boiling water canner.
Amazing on some blueberry scones for breakfast!
These are gluten free and dairy free - made of an egg, almond meal, coconut flour, coconut milk, honey, and blueberries. |
With this easy recipe and all the other suggestions on my list, these chickens can go crazy with it!