For some reason when I think of making lemon curd I think of it as a laborious process - so when I was watching Nancy Birtwhistle’s Instagram stories recently and she whipped up lemon curd in almost no time at all with just four ingredients I realized it was time to rethink that and give it a go. This recipe takes less than 10 minutes and is oh so worth it.

I love lemon curd, it is sharp, sweet, tangy - pretty much perfect. It is delicious with graham crackers, on a bowl of ricotta cheese with fresh blueberries, smeared on a scone, or straight with a spoon.

Adapted from: Nancy Birtwhistle’s Instagram Stories

Ingredients:

1/3 cup sugar

4 tbsp butter

2 large eggs

2 lemons (zest and juice)

Slice the butter into single tablespoon chunks and pop them into a small sauce pan with the sugar on low heat. While the butter begins to melt, zest and juice the two lemons directly into the pot. Add the two eggs and begin whisking.

Once the butter is melted and everything is incorporated, turn the heat to low medium and keep whisking continuously until thickened. For me, depending on how impatient I am (and therefor how high I push the heat) it takes anywhere between 3 and 6 minutes for the curd to thicken up. Try to be patient and not bop the heat up, because you risk lumps if you rush it.

The curd should be sort of a pudding texture, easily and gloriously coating a spoon and clinging to it.

The good news is, even if you rushed it, or dropped in an egg shell or a lemon seed it isnt really a big deal because you can pass it through a sieve real quick and it will be perfect. You can also sieve it to remove some of the pulpy-ness of the zest. I don’t mind a little zest in my curd and I’ve never gotten any complaints, but I sieve it when I’m making it for company.

This recipe should yield a smidge over a cup of curd. Chill it down in the fridge and it will continue to thicken and set, until you can hold your jar upside down long enough to take roughly 30 pictures and none will come out.