What To Consider When Adding Eggs To Lemon Curd For The Best Texture

Lemon curd is at the center of many tasty scones and delightful crepes. It's not just a condiment, it's bliss from a jar. Using basic pantry ingredients, lemon curd provides the ultimate sensory satisfaction with its tangy taste and bright appeal. But, it's the curd's creamy, dreamy texture that will have you eating straight from the jar and experiencing childlike wonder.

Lemon curd is a distinguished way to add pure zest to baked goods using eggs or egg yolks, lemon juice, butter, sugar, and salt. Each ingredient adds flavor, substance, and even color to the final result. The eggs and butter form the base of the lemon curd and provide that velvety texture that makes it an endearing condiment. Add to that fresh lemon juice for a clean, citrusy flavor, sugar for sweetness, and salt to cut through the sweetness and balance out the aromas.

Many recipes use whole eggs or egg yolks to make lemon curd, but the best ones compromise with a mixture of both. A recipe with whole eggs will give you a softly set curd with a pale color. One using just egg yolks comes out more stiffly set, richer, and darker in color. Combine these concepts, and you get the perfect love child of two distinct lemon curds: A golden-yellow condiment with a gentle hint of fruitiness that's creamy enough to scoop up and spread on toast.

One reliable method for achieving the best lemon curd texture is to use more egg yolks in addition to whole eggs. For example, you can use two whole eggs and one or two egg yolks. If you have a tried and true lemon curd recipe, you can make it even better by creating an egg whole-to-yolk ratio. The secret to devising this ratio is to replace each whole egg with two egg yolks and vice versa.

A recipe that calls for, say, three whole eggs can do with two whole eggs and two egg yolks, or one whole egg and four yolks. On the other hand, one that calls for six egg yolks only can be adjusted by using four yolks plus one whole egg. The purpose is to maintain the volume of the eggs in total. The result depends on which ratio you select. More whole eggs will give you a softer curd, while more egg yolks will result in a richer curd.

Ultimately, you are the whisk to your egg mixture. Use these simple adjustments to achieve the best lemon curd texture according to your preferences. Keep in mind that the other ingredients will also help you reach a perfect and possibly even smoother texture. For instance, try this key to giving lemon curd a hint of salt without the grit. You'll love it.