Best Lemon Curd EVER!

It's Good Friday, which means (among many other beautiful things) that my kiddos have the day off from school. It's a special day, to be sure. Though for my kids, at the young age of five, it is MOSTLY special because they have an extra day at home with mama. And it's beautiful, which means they can play outside for hours. And because on special days, Mama makes breakfast. That is not cereal. Or porridge. 

It took approximately 27 seconds for me to decide what to make. Ebelskiver, or Dutch pancakes, are a favorite with the kids and with me, too. They're fairly easy to make (you have to have a special pan for this one, but for me, this is one specialty kitchen item I wouldn't want to be without) and super yummy. And they have a surprise, because you fill these tasty gems with whatever you choose. And today, I couldn't think of anything but lemon curd.

It'd been a while since I'd made lemon curd, so I searched the Google machine for a recipe that looked good and found it in Ina Garten's recipe posted on the Food Network. Here's my absolute favorite thing about it.... no zesting! I despise zesting. I feel like a lot of what I want gets stuck in the zester, it takes SO LONG to do, and it's tedious. Enter Ina with her tip de jour! This recipe calls for using a vegetable peeler to PEEL the zest away. Genius? Why yes, I think so. As it turns out, the best peeler we own is for lefties (my husband was thrilled that he finally found a vegetable peeler he could use and it turns out to be because it's meant for those left-handed folk so often left out of the kitchen appliance game, which also means I can't use it) so I used a knife instead. So, here we go. Note the ONLY change I made to this recipe was adding four drops of Lemon Essential Oil to the lemon juice before adding it to my mix in the blender. This gives it a more robust lemony flavor and it was amazing!

 INGREDIENTS
  • 3 lemons
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1/4 pound unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 4 extra-large eggs
  • 1/2 cup lemon juice (3 to 4 lemons)
  • 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 4 drops Lemon Essential Oil

    Using a vegetable peeler (or a knife, this works equally as well though you do have to be extra careful to ONLY get the zest and not the white pith), remove the zest of 3 lemons. Put the zest in a food processor with your trusty steel blade and add the sugar. Pulse (really, pulse, don't just turn it on and watch it go) until the two are minced together nicely.

    In your trusty mixer (I have a KitchenAid stand mixer and this did the job nicely) cream the butter and then add in the sugar and lemon zest mixture. Then add the eggs 1 at a time, next add your lemon juice Lemon Essential Oil and, finally, the salt. Mix until combined.

    Pour the mixture into a 2 quart saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened, about 10 minutes (we use Le Creuset, which takes a little longer to get hot, so give yourself time if this is you), stirring constantly. The lemon curd will thicken at about 170 degrees F, or just below simmer. If you have a hard time telling if your curd is ready, look for whisk marks that remain for just a second after you move your whisk through the curd. Finally, remove it from the heat and cool or refrigerate. **If you're giving this as a hostess gift, as I will be doing for brunch on Monday, carefully pour your curd into your desired container and let it cool in that, this is much easier (and less messy) then trying to spoon it in once it's cooled.

  • Best Lemon Curd Once the curd was made, getting breakfast together was easy. While it was still warm, I mixed a portion of the lemon curd with some mascarpone cheese (I know, yum, right??). This was the filling for my Ebelskiver. Yes, yes, I'll share that recipe with you, too. The Ebelskiver come together quickly, so tell the kids to get ready!


    OUR FAVORITE EBELSKIVER RECIPE
    This recipe comes from Amanda, over at Crafty Cooking Mama.

    INGREDIENTS
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoon sugar
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs, separated
  • 1 cup buttermilk (or Kefir)
  • 2 teaspoon melted butter (I melt a little extra and use that for greasing the pan)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 drops Lemon Essential Oil (notice that this batter doesn't have much sugar, so you're only using a couple drops of oil here to give a hint of Lemon flavor. Too much and your batter will taste a bit bitter.)
  • Melter butter for greasing pan
  • Filling (this can be anything: jam, Nutella, chocolate chips, etc.) 
  • powdered sugar, for dusting

    INSTRUCTIONS
    1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder & salt.
    2. Separate eggs and set whites aside.
    3. Whisk together the egg yolks, buttermilk (or Kefir), melted butter, vanilla extract, Lemon Essential Oil. Whisk this mixture into your flour mixture until it's mostly smooth & thoroughly mixed - some lumps will remain.
    4. Start heating your pan over medium heat.
    5. Using your trusty stand mixer (or electric hand mixer) beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
    6. Fold the whites into your batter.
    7. Grease each well of the mold with melted butter using a pastry brush or paper towel.
    8. Pour batter into each well, filling just under half way. I use a spoon for this.
    9. Add about a teaspoon + of filling.
    10. Top with additional batter - I fill ⅛" from the top (or let's face it, all the way to the top because being super precise isn't my forté
    11. Cook until bottoms are golden (super silly instruction because you, clearly, can't see the bottoms) and sides are set, about 3-4 minutes, then, turn the pancakes and continue cooking until bottom is golden - another 2-3 minutes. I use 2 small wooden skewers to maneuver and flip each ebelskiver. If you don't have something like this, you could use chopsticks (these are a bit clunky for me). I think the easiest thing is to cut a wooden skewer (like you'd use for skewering meat/veggies on the grill) in half and use those for "flipping." I find it's easiest to do a two-point turn. You'll likely get your style figured out in one or two flips.
    12. Repeat with the remaining batter.
    13. Remove each pancake and serve with a dusting of powdered sugar.

      This is a recipe your family is sure to love!! Want to make it and don't yet have the right tool?? We found our Nordic Ware pan from Williams Sonoma, but it's also available on Amazon (one of this mama's favorite places to shop, because they bring it right to you!).


      Our favorite Ebelskiver Recipe 

*It should be noted that we never use anything but dōTERRA Essential Oils. They are Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade oils and absolutely safe to ingest and cook with.

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