So… this year I’ve been modifying and tweaking both my own, and other versions of recipes to use less fat, and less sugar. This is a difficult thing to do with lots of recipes if you don’t want to compromise on taste and flavour!

Here is my modified lemon curd recipe. It’s entered at the village show tomorrow so we shall see how it compares to everyone else’s! Husband’s taste test comment was ‘wow that’s lemony’ so that is a good thing, right!

My previous recipe used 200g sugar to 2 lemons, this uses less than 1/3. Obviously overall, that will make less curd, but if you make less, you eat less, so overall that’s a good thing if you live by my mother’s motto for life which is ‘everything in moderation’. This recipe makes one small jar of around 100ml, enough for a Victoria sponge cake filling, a lemon cheesecake, a lemon tiramisu or four to six individual lemon layer puddings.

Recipe:

• 60g sugar
• 4 fresh, free range eggs (yolks only)
• 40g salted butter
• 2 large unwaxed lemons

Method:

In a small/medium mixing bowl, finely grate the zest of the two lemons, and squeeze and sieve the juice. Add the egg yolks, and butter.

Place the bowl over a simmering pan of water and mix continuously for around 8 minutes until the curd thickens.

Jar immediately, allow to cool, refrigerate and use within a week.