Lemon Curd brings me back to my undergrad days when I used to make it with Ian (in fact, he's the one who introduced me to it I believe). The curd isn't quite the recipe we used, but it's still just as delicious as I remember it being. We'd slap it on some warm scones or just eat it by the spoon full! :)
Although this is more of a "spring" or "summer" recipe, lemons are readily available all year round and always brighten up a day (or a meal!).
Lemon Cupcakes
3/4 cup cake flour3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter (room temp)
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
zest of two large lemons or four small lemons (roughly 1 tbsp)
Preheat the oven to 350. Line one cupcake pan with twelve liners. Set aside until ready.In a bowl, combine both flours, baking powder, and salt together. Whisk and set aside.
In a stand mixer or with a hand beater, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (about two or three minutes). Incorporate eggs one by one until the mixture is fully blended. Add in the vanilla and lemon zest and blend for about ten seconds.
Combine the flour mixture and milk into the egg batter, alternating each and dividing the flour into three parts and the milk into two.
Beat the batter just until all the ingredients are combined.
Divide the batter evenly into the twelve liners. Bake for roughly 14-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. (I sometimes test my cupcakes by touching them lightly on the top to see if they have a little bounce to them. Works well if you don't have a toothpick!).
Allow to cool about 10-15 minutes before cutting open and filling cupcakes with the curd.
Once the cupcakes have cooled and the curd is firm and ready to use, cut a hole into the center of the cupcake about 3/4" - 1" wide and about 1" deep. I cut the holes at an angle so they created a conical shape. Cut off the bottom half of the cone. Fill center with about 1 tbsp curd and place the top of the cone back onto the cupcake.
These are now ready to serve!(Note - it's best to refrigerate these cupcakes as the curd does best in the fridge. However, you can leave these out for a couple hours if you're planning on serving them the same day).
(cupcake recipe was adapted from a different Martha Stewart cupcake recipe)
Lemon Curd
1/3 cup lemon juice (freshly squeezed)2 eggs plus one egg yolk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
zest of one small lemon (or about 1 tsp - optional)
In a bowl, combine the eggs and sugar and beat together.
Heat lemon juice just in a small saucepan just until warm. Once heated, slowly mix into the egg mixture, beating constantly, careful not to cook the egg.
Once fully incorporated, pour mixture into saucepan and begin to cook, stirring constantly, on medium heat. The liquid will suddenly begin to thicken. At the point where a spatula scrapped against the bottom creates a line, but quickly disappears, you know the mixture is ready!
Remove from the heat and beat in the butter and lemon zest.
Pour into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap on the surface of the curd. Refrigerate and use once cool (this should take a couple hours).
For more curd, double this recipe and use it on WHATEVER you'd like! (Certainly double this is you plan on making 24 cupcakes instead of 12 as above). If you don't want to make your own curd, it's sold in almost every grocery store.
(adapted from the Cooks Illustrated cookbook)
