Well, as I have done a post on how to make Jam, the next logical step seems to be curds. Now I know you can buy lemon curd with no dairy and soya but shop bought ones can be incredibly sweet and a bit thick. In contrast making your own curd has a wonderfully sharp flavour and much more pleasing consistency.

Most recipes will use butter, but I have found that you can make a wonderful smooth curd using the stork baking block, so that’s the recipe I’m going to share today. I’m using stork as it doesn’t separate like some of the dairy free margarine can.

When you think of curds, most people think of lemon, however, you can make a curd from any of the citrus fruits. The favourite in this house is my homemade Lime curd, and I use it a lot in my dairy free baking as we often substitute for cream and dairy with coconut products which can be incredibly sweet. Nothing goes with coconut and cuts right through that sweetness like the sharpness of lime curd. 

You can also make orange curd which is wonderful with chocolate cakes.

 

Ingredients:

Citrus fruit (2 oranges OR 3 lemons OR 4 limes) make sure they are unwaxed

7oz caster sugar

4oz stork baking block

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

 

Method:

Sort out some old jars, wash them and put them in the oven at 80°C to sterilise them. Small jars are better for this as once opened, the curd needs using within a week so smaller batches are better.

Wash the fruit, then grate the rind into a large heatproof bowl and squeeze in the juice.

Add in the stork and sugar.

 

Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until the stork has melted and the sugar has dissolved.

Put the eggs and yolks in a separate bowl and beat together until smooth.

Add the eggs to the fruit juice mixture and mix well.

Stir constantly over the heat until the curd thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon. This step does take patience, but don’t worry, it will get there. Its a bit like making custard, nothing will happen for ages, then suddenly there will be quite a change in consistency.

Remove from the heat and pour the curd into the warm, sterilised Jars.

Seal the Jars immediately while still warm and leave to cool completely.

You can store the curd in a cool dry place for up to 2 months but due to the egg I wouldn’t keep them any longer than this.

Once opened, keep in the fridge and use up quickly.

 

These curds are delicious on their own, or used in any of the cake recipes on this blog. 

You will find when making this that you will have some egg whites left behind. Check out the meringues recipe to use them up. They go great with the curd too!