Orange Curd

Oranges are in season, and Orange Curd is the perfect way to showcase the fresh citrus as a breakfast spread! Fresh orange juice is combined with butter, sugar, egg yolks and orange zest to create a condiment that showcases the natural sweetness of the oranges.

Real talk: This post was supposed to feature an Orange Curd King Cake. As some of you might know, Fat Tuesday is tomorrow, and I desperately wanted to have some Mardi Gras-centric goodness for y’all to appreciate.

Except… I botched my king cake dough. Like, suuuuuuper botched it. The yeast either died in the fridge because it accidentally froze when we turned the temp down on New Year’s Eve for our giant pot ‘o gumbo, or I killed it by dumping it in too-hot water to start my recipe.

Either way, I didn’t realize the dough wasn’t rising until an hour and a half after I set it down for the first rise. And then I didn’t have another day to devote to king cake making… and then my in-laws came in town this past weekend and brought four king cakes (!!!) with them, so I didn’t make one myself.

The thing is… I’d made this lovely orange curd the night before my disastrous king cake attempt, and it was just hanging out in the fridge, calling my name.

It’s orange season, and we received a behemoth bag of citrus from our bi-weekly CSA. Instead of squeezing all the oranges to make the largest pitcher of orange juice ever seen, I’ve been trying to use them for different and delicious dishes. Some have been more successful than others, and we’ve still got more oranges to enjoy, so expect more orange goodness sometime in the near future.

One of the winning dishes is this here orange curd.

I’d never made a curd before, and I was unsure how it would go. If you’re anything like me, you fret over making something new, and because you’re fretting, you don’t try the new something for a long time because you’re scared something is going to go horribly wrong.

Something I knew how to make went horribly wrong for me last week. It turned out that the new recipe I made was the non-disaster. So take some cooking risks! You’ll get an occasional flop, but sometimes, you’ll find a hidden gem.

This orange curd is a delight, and now that I’ve conquered my fear of making a curd, I bet this recipe would be delightful when made with any seasonal fruit.

Not surprisingly, I want to eat orange curd on everything. We devoured some of it yesterday morning on the last of our blueberry English muffins, and I have a feeling that I’ll be running out to the store today to get some more because this curd deserves to be enjoyed!

Here’s how I made it:

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Yield: 1 pint orange curd

Orange Curd

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Oranges are in season, and Orange Curd is the perfect way to showcase the fresh citrus as a breakfast spread! Fresh orange juice is combined with butter, sugar, egg yolks and orange zest to create a condiment that showcases the natural sweetness of the oranges.

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Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 6 egg yolks
• 2/3 cup orange juice, freshly-squeezed
• Zest of one orange

Instructions

1. Using a hand mixer (or a stand mixer), cream the butter and granulated sugar together in a glass bowl.
2. Add the egg yolks one by one as the mixer runs. Blend together until all egg yolks are incorporated.
3. Add in the orange juice, stirring until smooth.
4. Heat a large saucepan over low heat. Pour in the orange curd mixture, stirring constantly and cooking until thickened. Do not bring to a boil -- you want this to simmer and thicken.
5. Remove the saucepan from the heat when the mixture has thickened, and stir in the orange zest.
6. Transfer to a bowl or a mason jar, and store in the refrigerator for up to a week.
7. Enjoy spread on biscuits, English muffins or muffins for breakfast or brunch.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8 servings

Serving Size:

2 tablespoons
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 184Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 161mgSodium: 8mgCarbohydrates: 17gFiber: 0gSugar: 16gProtein: 2g

Nutrition facts are an estimate and not guaranteed to be accurate.

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