A Lemon Scented Maggie Monday

It is interesting to see how scents make their way through the cleaning product industry. One product starts it and then it spreads like wildfire through them all until the next trend appears. Remember when there was a pine scent to everything? I guess we all subconsciously wanted to live in a forest. Next was lemon. Then “fresh air” or “cool breeze”. Then cinnamon. And then orange. Most of them have not lasted, but lemon has. It is the scent that endures. Maggie is here with her own lemon favorite….

It is no secret that I love lemon. So, here is yet another lemony recipe for you. I had egg yolks left over from another recipe (Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins) so I didn’t want them to go to waste. Lemon curd was the perfect answer. Heck, on a whim I even tried some on one of the muffins and it was pretty tasty!

Lemon curd is versatile. It can serve as a filling for tarts and cakes, and be used in trifles. Or, just spread some on a slice of pound cake or bit of short bread to go along with a nice cuppa tea! (Remember our rule: Only good quality tea!)

This particular recipe comes from Ina Garten. I like it a lot. Her recipe calls for use of the whole egg, but I prefer it with yolks only. Alton Brown also has one that is wonderful.

Mmmmmmmmmm.

Lemon Curd

What you need:

3 lemons

1 ½ cups sugar

1 stick butter, room temperature

4 large egg yolks

½ cup lemon juice (3-4 lemons)

1/8 tsp kosher salt

What you do:

Remove zest from the lemons using a micro-plane- being careful to avoid the white pith. I zested directly into the bowl of my food processor. Add the sugar to the bowl and pulse until the zest is finely minced into the sugar.

With a mixer, cream the butter and then mix in the lemon sugar. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, and then add the lemon juice and salt. Mix until combined.

Pour the mixture into a 2 quart saucepan and cook over medium low heat until thickened (about 10 minutes), stirring constantly. The curd will thicken at about 170degrees. Remove from the heat and pour into desired container(s). Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.