FREnch Lemon Cream Curd

French Lemon Cream Curd is buttery, creamy lemon curd unlike the regular lemon curd. I have followed this recipe from Edd Kimber’s blog The Boy Who Bakes.

Here the butter is incorporated when the custard is cooled, while in the other method  of making lemon curd we cook the butter along with the lemon juice and sugar. This method of making lemon curd results in much creamier curd . You can notice that in the colour of the curd as well.  I love the taste of both methods. I would use French Lemon Cream Curd in tarts and the other Lemon Curd in Lemon curd cookies and Pavlovas 

Ingredients

For the Lemon Cream Curd

150ml – lemon juice
zest of 3 lemons
2 – large eggs
2 – large egg yolks
150gms – caster sugar

Seeds of 1 vanilla bean
225g unsalted butter, diced and at room temperature

For the Tart Shells follow this recipe.

Method

To make the FREnch Lemon Cream Curd add lemon juice, lemon zest, eggs, egg yolks and caster into a big glass bowl.

Place the bowl on a pan of simmering water and cook in a Bain Marie method.

Keep stirring it continuously till the temperature reaches 80C on a candy thermometer.

The temperature is very important because it needs the be completely cooked like a custard. It is important for it to get the right texture at the end.

once the custard is cooked pour it into a large jug passing it through a fine sieve to remove any cooked egg bits.

Allow it to cool for 15 minutes or it reaches 60C.

Now add couple of pieces of butter and blend it using a hand blender. ( using a jug is a better idea as it reduces the amount of air incorporated in the curd which is what we want)

Keep adding all the butter pieces two at a time and blend it well.

Pour the creamy curd into a bowl.

Cover it using a cling film and make sure the cling film is touching the curd.

Refrigerate it for minimum 4 hours.

The curd will thicken and is now ready to be filled into the shells.

Fill the FREnch Lemon Cream Curd into the shells, top it with some Swiss meringue and using a blow torch give it a toasted look.

 

Once the custard is cooked pour it into a large jug, through a fine sieve to remove any cooked egg bits, allowing to cool for 15 minutes, when it should be about 60c. Using some form of blender (traditional jug style or stick blender both work great) blend in the butter a couple piece at a time. If using a stick blender do this in the jug you cooled the curd, the depth of the jug means you wont end up incorporating too much air which you’re trying to avoid (the same reason it is best not to use a food processor). Once all of the butter has been incorporated pour the cream into a container, press a sheet of clingfilm onto the surface of the custard and refrigerate for at least fours hours, until the mixture thickens up.