Superbowl Sunday is coming up – and so is my recipe for quick & easy beer bread for the big game. But today I want to share with you this ridiculously good lemon curd recipe, because I absolutely love it and once you’ve had a spoonful of this, trust me you will too. And hey, who says you can’t class up the big game with some lemon curd spread on biscuits (or beer bread), scooped on doughnuts, berries, and whipped cream, heaped into a lemon meringue pie, or slathered on top of ice cream..

I learned to make lemon curd from this fantastic article in Fine Cooking. Lemon curd is surprisingly easy to make, but if you have any anxieties at all, check it out. My recipe is adapted from theirs, but is more tangy (I LOVE lemon) and a little less rich/heavy (fewer egg yolks).

In college, I used to eat spoonfuls of cookie dough when studying. As in, I had a tub of cookie dough that I would dig into whenever I had a big project or test coming up. Delicious? Yes. Stress-relieving? Yes. Risky? Yes. Did I ever get sick? Nope. While I still love cookie dough, I’ve been trying to cut down on eating too many raw egg products.. and have fallen in love with lemon curd. (And Sourpatch Kids.. don’t judge.) One spoonful of lemon curd spread on bread or a biscuit or a sugar cookie or a spoon, and I’m in my happy place again.

What are some of your favorite comfort foods?

Lemon Curd

(yields about 1.5 cups – I often double the recipe)

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 generous tablespoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temp, cut into bits

Directions

1. Cream together sugar and butter until smooth. Beat in the eggs.  Mix in lemon juice and zest.
2. Cook on moderately low heat in a heavy-bottom saucepan, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until curd has reached 170 degrees F (check with candy thermometer).
   • At this point it should no longer be cloudy, and will be thick enough to leave a track if you swipe your finger through the curd on the back of a wooden spoon.
   • This should take about 10-20 minutes.
   • Do not bring the curd to a boil.
3. Strain and transfer the hot lemon curd to a bowl and cover all the surface with plastic wrap – push down so the plastic wrap touches all the surface of the curd (if you don’t, the curd will develop a film along the surface). Chill until cold, at least 1 hour. Once it’s chilled, use or transfer to mason jars.

NOTE: You can cook the curd in a double boiler if you’re worried about overcooking the eggs and having them turned into “scrambled eggs”. However if you do, it will take WAYYY longer to make. As long as you frequently mix the curd with a wooden spoon (making sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the pot), and strain the curd while it’s hot, you should be fine.

Covered tightly, the lemon curd will keep in the fridge for a week, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Enjoy!