So, lemon butter. I have had an ongoing love affair with lemon butter for some time now.
I was introduced to this amazing soul-soothing product back in the 80's. Yes, I did have waterfall hair. Yes, I did wear lace socks with my high heeled pumps. Yes, I did have a Prince poster on my wall, right next to my Rob Lowe poster. I also had this amazingly unique friend named Roz. She was a true Brit. She lived in Worcester Park (pronounced "wuster"), Surrey, England. Her sister lived here in the states. When Roz came to visit, she taught me MUCH. Most importantly, she taught me the British way to eat scones. First of all, scones should NEVER be coated in glaze or sprinkled with sugar. They aren't to be too sweet in the batter either. And they MUST be currant scones. Then, they must be accompanied by true Devonshire cream, raspberry preserves AND LEMON CURD. Okay, I now call it lemon butter but that's just because I know Roz would laugh if she heard me change the name simply because CURD is such an unpretty word. Oh look! I rhymed! Anyhoo, lemon butter. It was my soul mate from the first wonderful spoonful. I was sixteen.
Fastforward approximately twenty years and I found myself on a lemon butter mission. I set out to find THE. BEST. LEMON (curd) BUTTER. PERIOD. Do you KNOW how expensive that stuff is?!?! For the love of Meyer, whoever he is! An itty bitty little 6-8oz jar costs as much as a full tank of gasoline (nowadays, two gallons)! That's just ridiculous! Well, I'd treat myself now and then. I'd buy some at a specialty shop, give it to Mr. Homemaker and ask him to wrap it up and give it to me in my Christmas stocking. Hey, it worked! And he was relieved he had one less item he had to think up to give me!
Fastforward another five (yeesh! i almost typed fifteen years and aged myself an extra decade! i hate math.) years and I found myself too broke to justify suggesting $8 worth of lemony heaven, even for Christmas. NOW WHAT?! Hmmm, there must be a way to MAKE IT, right? I mean, really, it is just a food product which means it would have a recipe somewhere, right? YES! YES INDEEDY! I searched the internet and found Alton Brown's own recipe (I love his quirky little comments through the view of the inside of his oven) and promptly set out to duplicate it...
- 5 egg yolks
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 lemons, zested and juiced
- 1 stick butter, cut into pats and chilled
Add enough water to a medium saucepan to come about 1-inch up the side. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, combine egg yolks and sugar in a medium size metal bowl and whisk until smooth, about 1 minute. Measure citrus juice and if needed, add enough cold water to reach 1/3 cup. Add juice and zest to egg mixture and whisk smooth. Once water reaches a simmer, reduce heat to low and place bowl on top of saucepan. (Bowl should be large enough to fit on top of saucepan without touching the water.) Whisk until thickened, approximately 8 minutes, or until mixture is light yellow and coats the back of a spoon. Remove promptly from heat and stir in butter a piece at a time, allowing each addition to melt before adding the next. Remove to a clean container and cover by laying a layer of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
I WAS SO EXCITED! I followed it to the letter! And yes, it was very good and oh so lemony heavenly, but hmmmm... How is it not quite right? It's just not "Roz quality" lemon (curd) butter. Oh my. Here's the thing... I'm not a confident "I can cook anything" kind of gal. My wonderfully longestly bestestly friend, Tam, from high school recently reminded me of how woefully kitchen challenged I truly was back in the day, pointing out that Mac&Cheese was my "specialty". ;) However, I WAS ON A MISSION. So spoonful after delicious spoonful of Alton's recipe, I pondered and made notes. Notes after notes.
Fast forward one more time to last summer. My sweet friends Que Sera Sera and Niecie B are also lemon butter lovers. They were VERY excited when I said I needed their tasting opinions on my lemon lovin' adventures! We have gone through this batch and that batch, carefully critiquing each one for slight imperfections (and yet, STILL ready to claw the orbs out of anyone's sockets that are eyeballing our lemon butter!) and giving gentle suggestions of improvements. To date, I honestly thought we had it down. Oh how delightfully wrong I was in that assumption!
Two words: raw sugar. Oh how joyous! RAPTURE! Break out in song! ♪♫Heaven... I'm in lemons...♪♫ Molasses meets lemon and KA-BLAM! Levels of richness I have never encountered! Warmth and pucker and all velvety... It is sheer LEMON HEAVEN! It is no longer Alton's vision of lemon loveliness... So, without further adieu... May I introduce...
The Homemaker's Lemon Butter Perfection!
Coming to an event near you in a housewarming, birthday, Christmas, baby shower, bridal shower, just-because-I-want-to gift SOON! Yep, all my friends will be getting some of this here and there this year... and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!
Until then, all God's people and The Homemaker said a Lemon Butter Amen!
