Curdalicious -- Orange Curd!

Knock knock!
Who’s there?
Banana.
Banana Who?
Banana.
Banana Who?
Orange!
Orange Who?
Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?

Ahem. I did warn you a few posts ago about my challenges in the joke telling department. On the bright side, literally, today’s recipe for Orange Curd is top notch in the yummy department!

Most folks have heard of that sweet-tart taste bud tantalizer called Lemon Curd, as well as its cousin Lime Curd. Both are so nummilicious, and can be used as a spread, cake filling, tart filling, over ice cream, with cheesecake, or enjoyed right off the spoon. This past summer, I tasted a wonderful orange curd and was immediately hooked on its bright, sunny color and flavor. A couple days ago, as I was enduring my weekly grocery run, the citrusy scent of oranges was wafting throughout the produce section and immediately I started craving orange curd.

Finding orange curd recipes on the internet, however, proved to be more challenging. So, I made up my own, based on a lemon curd recipe from Fine Cooking found at http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/lemon_curd.aspx. This particular recipe for making the lemon variety was so different from anything I’d seen before, and I just had to give it a try. In this recipe, all of the ingredients are mixed together before cooking. You’ll see what I mean in just a minute. I altered it to make orange curd by including orange juice, taking care not to make it too sweet. The results were so amazing, and it was sooooooo simple to do. Let’s transform some OJ into OC. Are you with me? Let’s go. Orange Curd Ingredients:6 tablespoons of softened room temperature unsalted butter
1 scant cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 egg yolks
Five tablespoons of fresh lemon juice plus enough orange juice to equal 1/3 cup (I used Tropicana orange/tangerine juice. Of course you could use fresh squeezed and strained.)
Zest of lemon and orange to equal about ½ - 1 teaspoon

In a large mixing bowl, using a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together for about 3 minutes. Slowly add the eggs and yolks one at a time beating with the mixer until blended, another couple of minutes. Add the juice and zest, and, again, using the hand mixer, beat in until blended, just a minute or less.The mixture will look curdled, but don’t worry, it will cook up perfectly translucent.

In a heavy sauce pan, pour in the curdled mixture and heat over med-low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture coats the back of the spoon which takes about 15-20 minutes. Do not let the mixture boil at any time. The mixture will change from curdled, to opaque, to translucent during that time. To be honest, I didn’t stir it constantly until the very end, but I did keep a very close eye on it. When the mixture coats the back of the spoon, remove from heat. Let cool slightly, and pour into a container and refrigerate. Or, do what I did and pour it slightly warm over some darling individual angel food cakes.Oh mama mia, this is sooo good. It’s sweet and tart, and very refreshing. I served ours over little angel food cakes two ways. One with plain whipped cream and blueberries, and the other with whipped cream and chocolate. The fruit version was very light and reminded me of springtime.The chocolate version was equally good with that terrific orange chocolate flavor combo. Definitely curdalicious! Oh, and the orange curd is gluten free, all the way, baby!

So orange you glad you dropped by to hear about orange curd? Orrrange you? Come on over and have a bite!