St Clements Boozy Lemon Curd

I love lemon curd. It’s beautiful, fresh, tangy. Amazing on toast in the morning, a great ingredient for baking and it makes a wicked French 75 if you fancy being fancy. And, why shouldn’t you?

I thought it might be nice to make a boozy version. There are a wealth of gins you could use. You could easily use a classic profile, but anything citrus led will work as the flavour profile has been built around the leading aspect. I almost went with Bombay Sapphire’s most recent release, the Premier Cru Murican Lemon…but in the end I was swayed by Slingsby Marmalade Gin, which gives a wonderful hint of rich orange marmalade, and gives the curd a delicious St Clements twist. There are lots of alternatives. Malfy Limone is another good shout. Think I will be trying out different gins each time I make it. I should imagine a sweet and fruity pink gin would make a lovely one too if that’s your thing. Definitely need to have a go with Cuckoo Sunshine Gin, that lemon, vanilla and raspberry profile will be a winner for sure!

This was my first time making lemon curd and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The process of using a bain marie is surprisingly relaxing and I found it a very mindful practice to whisky the mixture slowly over a low heat.

I’m super pleased with how this came out and I’m sure I’ll be slathering this on everything I can find for the next week. I’d suggest eating it within a week of opening it. And, to think I was only making this as an ingredient for something else! More on that later!

St Clements Boozy Lemon Curd

Delicious, dreamy lemon curd with a boozy twist.

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Course Snack

Ingredients

  

• 2 each Unwaxed lemons – zested and juiced
• 100 g Caster sugar
• 50 g Unsalted butter
• 2-3 tbspoon Gin (I used Slingsby Marmalade)
• 2 each Medium eggs

Instructions

 

• Melt the butter slowly using a bain marie (a bowl on saucepan of simmering water). Be careful not to let the water touch the bottom of the bowl. Do this on a low heat, and you need to keep control of the heat, so use a gas hob, or be wary to move the saucepan off the heat if you need to.
• Add the sugar, lemon juice and zest and gin. Use unwaxed lemons, or if you can only get waxed ones give them a quick wash to remove the wax. I used 2 generous tablespoons of gin and that it gave a nice balance, but you might want to add more/less depending on what gin you're using and how boozy you want the curd to be.
• Whisk gently and continuously until it's all melted together.
• In a separate cup or bowl, whisk the two eggs together. I turned the heat off whilst I did this.
• Slowly add the eggs to the mixture whilst continuously whisking slowly, once mixed turn the hob back on. I found this easiest in regards to controlling the temperature as the mixture was already very hot, although I'd suggest doing these things quickly so the mixture doesn't have too long to cool.
• Keep whisking the mixture gently. Slow and steady is the key and it's surprisingly relaxing.
• After about 10 minutes or so, you'll notice the mixture is getting thick. Keep going until it coats the back of a spoon. You can test it by running your finger through (careful it's not too hot!) and the line should stay.
• Sieve into a sterilised jar. You can sterilise jars by putting them in the microwave or oven (not the lid!). Check your technique on google before doing it. Sieving into the jar was a bit more of a faff than I realised it would be, as the zest kept blocking the sieve and the pool would grow larger than the opening of the jar. Best to do this little by little, pushing through with a spoon.
• You can cut a circle out of baking paper to sit on top of the curd, this stops a skin from forming. Let it cool then pop it in the fridge and leave for a few hours. You can eat it at any point but it is better for the patience of letting it set properly…though I wouldn't blame you for testing a spoonful or two!

Keyword lemon curd