That’s better! I reverted to the double boiler and it’s much thicker, holding its shape and my, oh my, intensely packed with blackberries. Even better, because we picked the blackberries from the park, free! Well I say ‘free’ – that would be apart from the eggs, sugar and butter. If picking wild fruit doesn’t give you that Hedgewitch glow then nothing will.
I’m loving these curds because the flavour is just so intense, but the butter and sugar temper the intensity. All of the flavour without having to grip the side of your chair.
Versatile too – I think of lemon curd as being something to fill a cake with or smear over fresh bread, but these berry curds are so very good on ice cream – a kind of fruit sauce but better.
Fantastic on crunchy toast and warm croissants, traditional on scones, they are a marvellous thing to have in the fridge. One of our friends ate it by the teaspoonful by the fridge door. That’s about as complimentary as it gets.
Continue reading 'Blackberry Curd'»
I’m really happy with this recipe, not least because I couldn’t find a recipe for it in any of my books and an internet search only turned up a recipe that included cooking apples.
I wanted a pure, unadulterated and intense curd.
Using La Lawson’s cranberry curd as a starting point, it yielded a great result.
The quantity is for 300g blackcurrants because that is the modest amount I yielded from my blackcurrant bush, but as that is a significant improvement on last year’s harvest and it’s only its second year of life, I can roll with that. If you harvest pounds and pounds of them, alter the quantities to suit you and prepare to distribute jars of joy throughout your community…
Continue reading 'A Tale of Two Curds. First, Blackcurrant Curd'»
Tangy, zesty, sweet, voluptuous lemon curd. Friend to families across the ages. Too poetic? Maybe, but it’s so easy to make and doesn’t so much knock the shop-bought stuff out of a cocked hat, so much as push it over and laugh at it. It stores for a good 3 weeks in the fridge, so it makes sense to make it. I bought really good shop stuff for my lemon and sultana buns, but one reminding taste of the home made stuff and I’m reassured that it is no substitute for the real thing. Spread on a slice of brioche, it is unbeatable.
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Intensely lemony, satin creamy pots with sweet, buttery shortbread. This recipe, adapted from one of Nigella Lawson’s (How to Eat) is pure joy; rich enough to satisfy but with enough zing that you don’t feel overloaded.
Once you had made the mixture it needs to sit in the fridge to steep. 2 – 3 days is the recommendation and I would definitely concur.
Before we start, let me say that when we eat these, we like the lemons to punch you in the face and call you names; hence I have increased the recipe to 4 lemons from the original 3. It is an intense recipe there’s no doubt, but if you wish to be cautious, start with 3 lemons and once you’ve added the cream, taste the mix. If you can take some more lemon, go ahead and add the zest and juice of the 4th one. Are you man enough?
Here we go.
Continue reading 'Lemon Creams with Shortbread'»
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cooking
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blackberries, blackberry, butter, caster sugar, curd, eggs, glut, no apple 
