Heavenly Homemade Lemon Curd

Homemade lemon curd is an absolute must for any fans of lemon curd or lemony flavours in general! It is definitely better than shop bought lemon curd by miles. It is so much more lemony and so creamy, the texture is amazing. This one is my favourite recipe- it is from Nigel Slater. When I was making this yesterday the whole kitchen was filled with the delicious smell of sharp freshly grated lemons. The other thing I should mention is that it is really really easy to to make and it does keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge.

It is best to use really ripe lemons so if you have any that have been lying around for a while they will be great as they are juicier. If you make sure they are at room temperature you'll get more juice out of them too.

Most lemon curd recipes tell you to stir the mixture with a wooden spoon but Nigel Slater uses a whisk which makes the lemon curd smoother and lighter and gives it that heavenly texture that you don't get from the shop.

I don't have a lemon juicer so I squeezed them with my hands which meant that I got some lumps of flesh in the mixture. I actually think this is really nice as it gave the lemon curd some texture but if you wanted it really smooth either use a lemon juicer or just squeeze them more carefully/ less vigorously.

I ended up eating so much of this whilst I was making it because I wanted to test the texture and see what it is like warm.

Ingredients:

Zest and Juice of 4 unwaxed lemons
200g sugar
100g butter, cut into cubes
3eggs and 1 egg yolk

Method:

• Wash your lemons - If they are waxed give them a rub with some kitchen roll.
• Grate the lemon zest, you only want the outermost yellow zest not any of the white stuff, and juice the lemons.
• Put the lemon zest and juice, the sugar and the butter into a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water (make sure the bottom of the basin does not touch the water.) Stir it with a whisk form time to time until the butter has melted.
• Mix the eggs and the egg yolk lightly with a fork and then stir it into the lemon mixture.
• Let the lemon curd cook, stirring regularly, for about 10 minutes, until it is thick and custard-like. It should fell heavy on the whisk.
• Remove it from the heat and stir it occasionally as it cools. Pour into clean jars and seal. It will keep for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.

Enjoy, Lemon Curd is amazing on its own and for brightening up  yogurt, pancakes, toast, biscuits and also everything!

The Hummingbird Bakery Peanut Butter Cookies

I really felt like baking something sweet after a long day in the library so I had a look through my pile of recipes that I want to try. My mum gave me this recipe from her hummingbird bakery recipe book. She literally cannot stop raving about how good they are and I love anything peanut buttery so I thought I would give them a go.

I made them with white chocolate chunks because I love white chocolate and peanut butter together but I will definitely try making them with milk and dark and maybe even all three.

I had to half the recipe from the book as it makes around 24 - I got 16 huge cookies from halving it though. I just do not know what I would do with 24 cookies even living with 8 people that's still way too many, but feel free to double it again.

Ingredients (for 12) :

• 115g salted butter at room temperature ( or you can use unsalted and add a pinch of salt)
• 100g caster sugar 
• 50g soft light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 120g crunchy peanut butter
• 170g plain flour 
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 75g of chocolate 

Method:

• Mix all of the ingredients together one by one and then shape the dough into balls.
• Pop the dough balls onto baking trays, they expand quite a bit so make sure they are not too close together. 
• Cook at 170 for about 10 mins until golden around the edges, they cook quite quickly so check every 5 mins, also they will harden as they cool so don't worry if they seem a but soft.

 

 

Enjoy them warm from the oven when they are soft and gooey or leave them to cool. They will keep for a couple of days in a container.