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.

As with the blackcurrant curd, make a puree first by putting 450g blackberries in a saucepan with a splash of water, bringing to the boil, then reducing to a simmer for 10-15 mins.

Pass through a nylon sieve – draining initially, then forcing the fruit pulp through until it’s dry and exhausted. Put the puree (I got 350ml) in the top of a double boiler, or in a pyrex bowl over a saucepan of simmering water if that’s what you have.

Add 275g caster sugar, stirring to melt and slowly whisk in 3 beaten eggs

then add 70g unsalted butter and stir whilst that melts too

Then the cooking begins. It takes a long time to thicken this way, but you eliminate the chance of undercooking it because of your fear that it will scorch.

See? It has started to thicken and in fact, fulfils the requirement that a spoon is ‘coated’, but the line is not clean – the right side is drooping, so keep stirring…

Nearly there – the line I made when I drew my finger across is more stable and it’s beginning to leave a trail on the surface of the curd in the bowl, but I feel it could be a little thicker yet.

And we’re there. Not dribbling from the spatula but hanging a bit

and leaving a more purposeful trail on the surface. Excellent. Now you can decant it into two jars and once cool, keep in the fridge.

I had poached some peaches and had some vanilla ice cream. It needed a little something and blackberry curd was the something. Seriously, can’t recommend it highly enough.

Blackberry Curd

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450g blackberries
3-4 tblsp water
275g caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
70g unsalted butter

Make a puree first by putting the blackberries in a saucepan with the water, bringing to the boil, then reducing to a simmer for 10-15 mins.

Pass through a nylon sieve – draining initially, then forcing the fruit pulp through until it’s dry and exhausted. Discard the pulp and put the puree (I got 350ml) in the top of a double boiler, or in a pyrex bowl over a saucepan of simmering water if that’s what you have.

Add the caster sugar, stirring to melt and slowly whisk in the beaten eggs.
Add the unsalted butter and stir whilst that melts too.

Keep the curd on the heat whilst you continue to stir. Eventually it will thicken, although this may take upwards of 25 minutes.
Once it drops, as opposed to dribbles, from the stirring implement and the curd leaves a trail on its surface, it is there.
Decant into two jam jars, cool and then store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

One small, yet significant detail before I start; despite the general use of a double boiler to make lemon curd, I always put it straight into the saucepan. I applied the same method to this and whilst the curd was great, it was too runny- in other words, fear had made me undercook it.
So I suggest returning to the traditional method of cooking it in a double boiler or sitting a Pyrex bowl over a pan of simmering water. A slower, but more sensible way of cooking it long enough to thicken it well without the fear of scrambling the egg or scorching it.

Remove the blackcurrants from their stems and place them and the water in a saucepan. (Don’t add any courgette, tomato or wild strawberries. That was just me basking in the wonderment of harvesting food from our own garden)

Bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer for 10 mins.

Remove from the heat and force the pulp through a nylon sieve into a bowl.

It will initially drain freely, then you have to keep rubbing the pulp into the sieve and keep scraping the thick goodies from the underside of the sieve with a knife. Discard the exhausted pulp

Pour the sieved blackcurrant purée into a double boiler (or a medium Pyrex bowl sat atop a pan of simmering water) and add the sugar and butter, stirring to melt it.

Remove the bowl from on top of the saucepan and add the beaten egg, stirring as you do so to avoid egg lumps. Shudder.

Return to the simmering pan of water and stir until it thickens; this could take at least 25 – 35 mins, if not longer. As you can see from the picture, it had thickened, but not enough – I relied on the cooling to set it, but it needed more cooking. It should be more puddingy than this.

Once it has thickened, decant it into two jam jars, cool and store in the fridge.

Or, as I did, take a jar to your Mum and Dad and hope that your Mum is thrilled enough to make something we can spread it on… Result! Scones!

Eat it within a couple of weeks. If it lasts that long… (see – it really is too runny, but the taste, well. Intense. Delicious.)

So after the success of this blackcurrant curd, my mind wandered to the possibility of other berried curds. Alex and I went for a walk by the river to check out the blackberries’ progress. We came away with a pound of them – sour as sloes, but they cooked up nicely. Blackberry curd to follow later!

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Blackcurrant Curd

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300g blackcurrants
125ml water
275-300g caster sugar
70g unsalted butter
3 eggs + 1 yolk

Place the blackcurrants and water in a saucepan, bring to the boil and then reduce heat to simmer for 10 minutes.
Remove from the heat and force the pulp through a nylon sieve into a bowl.
It will initially drain freely, then you have to keep rubbing the pulp into the sieve and keep scraping the thick goodies from the underside of the sieve with a knife. Discard the exhausted pulp.

Pour the sieved blackcurrant purée into a double boiler (or a medium Pyrex bowl sat atop a pan of simmering water) and add the sugar and butter, stirring to melt it.

Remove the bowl from on top of the saucepan and add the beaten egg, stirring well as you do so to avoid egg lumps.
Return to the simmering pan of water and stir until it thickens; this could take at least 25 – 35 mins, if not longer. If in doubt, spoon some on to a saucer and check that it doesn’t run all over the place. Also bear in mind that chilling it will thicken it up.

Once it has thickened, decant it into two jam jars, cool and store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

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.

In a small saucepan, and on a very low heat, put 2 oz unsalted butter.

Once it has melted, add 4oz sugar

and the zest and juice of 2 plump and large, or in my case, 4 small and miserable lemons.

Put 2 eggs and 1 extra egg yolk in a bowl and beat them well.

Add the eggs to the saucepan and stir in thoroughly. Taste it to make sure it’s sweet enough. I ended up adding nearly another ounce of sugar, but my lemons were particularly mean and spiteful.

Stir over the lowest of low heats and don’t let the mixture bubble at all during this process, or you will end up with scrambled eggs. If you get a scary moment – like a white piece of egg – whip the pan off the heat and beat it like a maniac. Try not to cry though – that would be a step too far.
It’s ready when the mixture coats a spoon; that is, dip the spoon in to the curd

and draw a line, with your finger, down the back of it and the clean line remains,then you’re there.

Pour into a bowl, cool and put in the fridge. It will thicken as it cools.
Keep it in a jar or sealed container in the fridge for about 3 weeks – if you can keep it that long.

Spread it on bread,

or add to whipped cream, use as a filling for a cake – the list goes on.

One word of advice though – don’t just cover it with clingfilm. I have done that in the past and every time I go to the fridge there’s a hole where a 4 yr-old’s finger has been inserted and licked. I am confident that the finger will not have been sanitised before or after this quick taster and more to the point, there’s no way of knowing how many times that finger went from mouth to lemon curd. *shudder*

——————–

Lemon Curd

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2oz unsalted butter
4-5oz sugar (add 4oz, then check sweetness as it cooks)
zest and juice of 2 large, or 3-4 small, miserable lemons
2 eggs and 1 egg yolk, beaten

In a small saucepan, and on a very low heat, melt the butter.
Add the sugar, zest and juice.

Add the eggs and stir in thoroughly. Taste it to make sure it’s sweet enough.

Stir over the lowest of low heats and don’t let the mixture bubble at all during this process, or you will end up with scrambled eggs. If you get a scary moment – like a white piece of egg – whip the pan off the heat and beat it like a maniac. Try not to cry though – that would be a step too far.
It’s ready when the mixture coats a spoon; that is, when you dip the spoon in to the curd and draw a line, with your finger, down the back of it and the clean line remains,then you’re there.

Pour into a bowl, cool and put in the fridge. It will thicken as it cools.
Keep it in a jar or sealed container in the fridge for about 3 weeks – if you can keep it that long.

Spread on bread, add to whipped cream, use as a filling for a cake – the list goes on.

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.

Zest all 4 of the lemons into a bowl.

Juice them and add the juice and 285g sugar to the bowl

Add 6 eggs to the bowl, using a hand whisk, whisk them until they are well incorporated.

Add 300ml cream and combine that.

Transfer the contents to a large jug, cover with clingfilm and leave in the fridge for at least 2, but preferably 3, days. Yes, DAYS. It gets the flavour steeped in.
You now have 2-3 days to find at least 8 ramekins of 150ml capacity and a roasting tin that will hold them all. I often get about 10 ramekins ready – it’s better than scrabbling around for jam jars whilst sobbing hysterically.

When 2 or 3 days have passed, remove the jug from the fridge and leave it at room temperature for an hour.
Preheat the oven to GM2/300F/150C. Put the kettle on.
You don’t have to do this all at once, you know – take your time.

Give the mix another swipe with the whisk – just to combine, not to get air into it – and pour into the ramekins that you have sitting neatly in a roasting tin.
Once you have evenly distributed it, leave it to sit a bit longer. I go through this procedure to try and lose the fridge coldness from everything because once, something happened. I have a scary tale to share. Sit down with me and hold my hand.

Once after making and serving this, we were washing up and 2 ramekins had cracked, then broke in my hands. Cut me, it did. CUT my hands. Claret all over the place.  Can you imagine if they had finally given up the ghost during dessert? Eeek. Luckily, they held on until the washing up water finally did them in. Better than a mouthful of glass though.  Sorry about that near miss, Bob and Maria, but at least you never knew anything about it.

Oops.

Anyway. Pour hot – not boiling – water into the tin to come about halfway up the ramekins.

Bake for 20-30 mins.
They should be set, but with some wobble, rather than sloshing, in the middle, bear in mind they will set more as they cool.

Remove from the water bath and leave to cool. You can eat them when they’ve cooled, or once cool, refrigerate them until the next day. Get them out of the fridge 2-3 hours before eating them.

Now to the shortbread.

Put 150g softened, unsalted butter and 75g icing sugar into a food processor and whiz to combine. Scrape to get all the bits.

Add 150g plain flour and 75g cornflour and a pinch of salt and process again to combine, scraping to get any stray streaks of flour back in.

Remove and lightly knead briefly to combine, from this

to this in about 3 kneads

You have 2 options now.
1st option.
Form into a cylinder, put in the fridge until firm, then slice and bake. I refrigerate it hard and use a very sharp knife to cut thin slices, but that’s because I like the contrast between the firm shortbread and the unctuous, silky lemon creams. Obviously, the thinner the slice, the firmer it will be. Dredge shapes with caster sugar if you wish.

2nd option.
Put a piece of clingfilm on the work surface, put your dough on top and cover with another piece of clingfilm.
Roll the dough out and cut out shapes with cookie cutters (I found some that were spoon shaped – that was cool).

Bake them straight away. You could gather up the remainder, and roll that into a cylinder, fridge it and cut slices – best of both worlds.

Spoons are a-bakin’

Cooled spoons (I baked them longer than I normally would, just to get them a bit harder)

Cooled slices

Here’s the finished combo.
See how the shortbread dips in nicely? Lovely.

Lemon Creams with Shortbread
(adapted form Nigella Lawson’s ‘How to Eat’)
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Lemon Creams:
4 juicy lemons, washed and dried
285g caster sugar
6 eggs
300ml double cream

* Before we start, let me say that we like the lemons to punch you in the face and call you names, when you taste this; 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?*

Zest all 4 of the lemons into a bowl.
Juice them and add the juice, sugar and eggs to the bowl. Using a hand whisk, whisk them until they are well incorporated.
Add the cream and conbine that.
Transfer the contents to a large jug, cover with clingfilm and leave in the fridge for at least 2, but preferably 3, days. Yes, DAYS. It gets the flavour steeped in.

You now have 2-3 days to find at least 8 ramekins of 150ml capacity and a roasting tin that will hold them all. I often get about 10 ramekins ready – it’s better than scrabbling around for jam jars whilst sobbing hysterically.

Remove the jug from the fridge and leave it at room temperature for an hour.

Preheat the oven to GM2/300F/150C. Put the kettle on.

Give the mix another swipe with the whisk – just to combine, not to get air into it – and pour into the ramekins that you have sitting neatly in a roasting tin.
Once you have evenly distributed it, leave it to sit a bit longer. I do this to avoid the ramekins cracking in the oven – quite an important point really.

Pour hot – not boiling – water into the tin to come about halfway up the ramekins.
Bake for 20-30 mins.
They should be set, but with some wobble, rather than sloshing, in the middle, bear in mind they will set more as they cool.

Remove from the water bath and leave to cool. You can eat them when they’ve cooled, or once cool, refrigerate them until the next day. Get them out of the fridge 2-3 hours before eating them.

Shortbread:

Preheat oven to GM3/325F/160C

150g unsalted butter, very soft
75g icing sugar
150g plain (all purpose) flour
75g cornflour (corn starch)

Put the butter and icing sugar into a food processor and whiz to combine. Scrape to get all the bits.
Add the flours and a pinch of salt and process again to combine, scraping to get any stray streaks of flour back in.

Remove and lightly knead briefly to combine.

1st option.
Form into a cylinder, put in the fridge until firm, then slice and bake. I refrigerate it hard and use a very sharp knife to cut thin slices, but that’s because I like the contrast between the firm shortbread and the unctuous, silky lemon creams. Obviously, the thinner the slice, the firmer it will be. Dredge shapes with caster sugar if you wish.

2nd option.
Put a piece of clingfilm on the work surface, put your dough on top and cover with another piece of clingfilm.
Roll the dough out and cut out shapes with cookie cutters (I found some that were spoon shaped – that was cool). Bake them straight away. You could gather up the remainder, and roll that into a cylinder, fridge it and cut slices – best of both worlds.

Either way, place shapes on to a parchment lined baking tray and bake for 20-30 mins. Check that the top is dry and that the bottom isn’t still doughy.
Cool on a wire tray. Store in a tin; they keep well.