Thursday, August 6, 2009

Homemade Lime Curd




I think I have said before that I wanted some lime curd, or lemon curd for that matter...as long as it was in the tart side.
So a bit after my birthday my mother and father in law had a surprise for me: Key lime pie !
And oh boy, was I HAPPY !
If you never tasted such a thing (such was my case), you should expect one of the best tasting desserts on earth, silky, smooth, cold, tart yes a bit sweet, creamy and all in all the perfect piece of pie !
I have always liked lemons and limes and lemonade (please no ice) and this pie was just what I needed to try.
So after tasting it, I thought I can surely make something similar myself - but how ?
Of course there are recipes out there for anyone to try, but I knew there had to be something special about this one.
Really I have not looked for a recipe for a Key lime pie per se - but - I think the best thing to do would be to make your own lime curd and mix it with a package of cream cheese and then fill in a graham cracker crust.
Ok maybe, decorate with some whipped cream to make it look pretty at the end - but that's about it as far as I am concerned !
All these having been said, I have to say that today I have ventured into making my first batch of lime curd.
It is so good, you won't be able to stop eating it.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/2 cup lime juice (2 regular limes will give you that amount of juice)
1/2 cup sugar
6 TBSP butter
1 TBSP lime zest or all the zest from the limes

Directions:
First choose a rather large glass bowl and a medium size sauce pan, making sure that the bowl is larger than the pan.
Fill half of the sauce pan with water and bring it to a boil.
Wash the limes, zest them then cut them in half and juice them.
In a medium size bowl place the eggs, sugar and lime juice and either by hand or with an electric mixer blend all the ingredients together, for maybe 5 minutes.
Now that the water is boiling, put the big glass bowl on top and reduce the heat to medium-low.
Melt the butter stirring with a spatula or plastic spoon and add the egg mixture.
Now stir gently and continuously and if you want, add the zest at this moment or you can save it to add at the end.
I do not think it really makes such a difference.
As you stir, you will see that in a matter of minutes the mixture starts to thicken.
This should take between 4 to 10 minutes.
From the moment it began thickening, do not keep over heat longer than 1, maybe 2 minutes longer.
Transfer to a jar, cool at room temperature and store in the fridge.
If you have any problems, although you shouldn't, ask me about it.

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