This delicious spread is easy to make, but does require an hour or two of your time. There are multitudes of lemon curd recipes online, the basic ingredients of which are always lemon juice and zest, sugar, eggs and butter. The greatest differences from recipe to recipe are the proportions thereof,  and the method. Some call for four to six lemons, others for two, ditto with the eggs. I split the difference and used three lemons and three whole eggs.

A word here about lemons;  the better the fruit you use, the better your curd will be. For preference, I use Meyer lemons fresh from my mother’s tree in Santa Cruz. It is worth befriending someone with a Meyer lemon tree if you don’t have one yourself.  A jar of extra curd is a nice thank you gift to your Meyer lemon procurer.  This  act of enlightened self-interest  will ensure you a continual  fresh lemon supply for the forseeable future.  It is even worth sneaking into the gardens of  complete strangers at the dead of night to abscond with a few fresh lemons off that stranger’s lemon tree. Don’t be too conscience stricken; people with lemon trees often have more lemons than they can possibly use   from January through March so  they won’t miss two or three.  If you don’t want to have to explain what you were doing in their back yard after their dog barks at you or don’t want to be bitten or treed by said dog,  go ahead and buy your lemons from the store or the farmer's market. Just know it’s worth buying the best lemons you can find for this recipe. You want a lemon that feels heavy for its size in your hand, and the flesh should have a little give; a  hard, light-weight lemon will have a thick rind, and not much juice.

It’s a good idea to have your iPod tuned to a nice long play list, or have  a good program on the radio or a some stirring music to listen to as you make this, because you’re going to be doing a lot of stirring for this recipe. But the sacrifice is well worth it to a dedicated lemon curd afficionado.

Zest from 2 lemons

Juice of 3 lemons

3 whole eggs

¾ to 1 cup sugar

1 stick butter cut into tablespoon-sized pieces.

For equipment, you’ll need:

1 wire whip

1 wooden spoon.

A double boiler. (This can be improvised with a mixing bowl that fits over a medium saucepan.)

1 grater.

1 citrus juicer.

1 sieve to strain the juice

A 1 cup measuring cup.

Grate the yellow zest from  two of your lemons. I sometimes use a zester, a handly little tool which produces long, curly strands of zest which creates some textural surprise in the curd.  But an ordinary grater works fine, and really, it all tastes the same.  Be sure to scrape the zest off the grater, as well. You want to get as much of it as possible:

Lemons give the most juice while at room temperature.  Roll them back and forth a few times under your hand to loosen everything up inside like this:

 Cut and juice your lemons, then strain out the pulp and seeds with the sieve.  I got a generous ¾ cup of strained lemon juice from three Meyer lemons. If your lemons are less juicy, you might supplement the amount with juice from a regular lemon, or even a little water:

            Break the three whole eggs into the top bowl of your double boiler. Some recipes call for an extra egg yolk, but I never have a convenient way to use up a leftover egg white, so nuts to that idea:

Whisk the eggs until bright yellow and frothy, and gradually add the sugar. I recommend adding the smaller amount first, then taste it.  You can always add more sugar, but lemon curd should not be too sweet. When the sugar is completely incorporated, add the grated zest and lemon  juice:

 Mix all ingredients together until blended.  

        Pour water into the medium saucepan until it’s about two inches deep and turn on burner.  The water should be starting to bubble and steam but should not  yet be boiling when you put the top half of the boiler on:

  Turn the heat down to medium low under the bowl, and stir the lemon juice, egg and sugar mixture with your wooden spoon.  As you heat and stir the  curd, add the  butter which you have cut into tablespoons, like this:

Add 1 piece at a time and allow each one to be completely incorporated before adding the next, stirring constantly as you do so:

       Keep stirring the curd until you think the American banking industry might possibly be solvent again, or until you are about to start screaming uncontrollably. (In reality, this will take about 10 to 20 minutes, but it will feel longer than that. Keep stirring, lemon curd is worth the effort.) Keep scraping your spoon along the sides and bottom of the bowl to mix everything in and keep any lumps from forming.  Brave people sometimes just cook lemon curd directly in the sauce pan which doesn’t take as long. But it does increase your risk of ending up with sweetened lemon scrambled eggs instead of a nice smooth curd.

            The curd is done when it’s a glossy bright yellow and coats the back of your wooden spoon.  Your finger should leave a visible trail through it, like this:  

Remove bowl  from the heat, and allow the curd to cool; it will continue thickening as it does so. Threaten spouses, lovers and children with death and mayhem if they start eating it straight out of the bowl. Hey! I saw that, keep your fingers OUT of there!

Now you’re going to need something to store it in, right?  My recipe yielded approximately 2 generous cups of curd, enough to fill up this canning jar and then some:

What can I say? I'm a lousy judge of volume, and I always sucked at math. The over-flow filled  2/3^rds of a slightly larger empty jam jar I  luckily had on hand.  I sterilized the smaller jar in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes, but when I realized the situationI just boiled up more water and rinsed out the empty jar  with it to a fare-thee well.  It's not easy to find canning jars for sale where I live, but small, empty glass jars are very handy items  to have around for emergencies like this.

 Lemon curd will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator and you’ll eat it up well before it has a chance to spoil.  It will be paler and thicker after refrigeration while still being soft and spreadable:

Lemon curd is wonderful on toasted brioche or challah or almost any bread of your choice with a cup of hot tea. It’s out of this world with tea scones and clotted cream. While it’s very good with butter, it’s especially delicious when  paired with the mellowness of Mascarpone cheese on that same toasted brioche. If you don’t eat it on toast or English muffins etc, it makes a good filling for layer cakes or short bread sandwich cookies, and lemon tarts of any size. I've been known to dip a spoon into the jar, and just eat the stuff by itself, but I'm sure all of you have far more self control than that.  I know I suggested giving it away to to your fresh lemon procurer, but I always feel like putting it under HIS protection, instead:

"Step away from the lemon curd, if you  please, sir!"

Go forth and make your own  curd; you will feel clever accomplished and well-fed when you have done so.