Eating my Curds

Lemons are the most maligned fruit in the English language. Take for example the following phrases, "when life gives you lemons..." or "you've bought(got) a lemon..", the English-speaking world is saying that you've gotten yourself a thoroughly bad deal!

And yet, where would we be without a bit of tart lemon juice or fragrant lemon zest to add that spark or zip to our tea or our pies, and who would eat curd unless it's delicious zesty and tangy lemon curd!

I have never been tempted to make lemon curd as the commercial ones I've tasted in the past were either too sour or didn't really catch my attention with their muted or zilch lemon fragrance. Having decided that I should not based my entire life experience with lemon curd on those commercially bottled curds, I tried my hand at 'curdling' and used this lemon curd recipe from the January 2001 issue of Gourmet(reproduced at this page on epicurious.com).

With just 4 ingredients: lemons, sugar, eggs and butter, a little wrist action (some frequent whisking required), and half an hour later, my very first batch of lemon curd appeared last Saturday and unfortunately, since then, I haven't been able to stop sneaking a tiny spoonful of luscious tangy sweetness out of that cheery sunny yellow bottle every now and then. Home-made lemon curd is bloody addictive!

Not wanting to finish the entire bottle of lemon curd by sneaking spoonfuls of it (no matter how tempting it might be), the baking supplies and utensils came out on full parade on Sunday and the result, raisin scones (pic on the left) and lemon madeleines (pic on the right).

The recipe for raisin scones was from the March 2005 issue of Martha Stewart Living and it appeared to be healthy with the addition of wheat germ to the flour and the use of heavy cream in place of butter. It baked a tad too dry for my liking though (maybe, due to the lack of butter) but I do like the addition of wheat germ to the scones. Will probably need to do some tinkering to this recipe and if successful, will share it in future.

The lemon madeleines, on the other hand, turned out beautifully - light and spongy. Break one in half, spread a dollop of lemon curd over it, and if you are a fan of tangy sensations like me, it may be fairly difficult to stop at one. I adapted the lemon madeleine recipe from this blueberry madeleine recipe of Tyler Florence in his Eat This Book (one of my all-time favourites, both for the recipes and the gorgeous pictures of man and food). Instead of using orange zest, I added lemon zest and omitted the blueberries entirely.


Will need to take a break from lemon curd soon - am beginning to feel like little Miss Muffet sitting on her tuffet and eating her curds!