Appetizers, Dips, & Snacks

It’s like I’m sandwiching the seasons with curd, somehow.  I talked about falling in love with my easy pink grapefruit curd as the cool, sunny spring days gave way to summer.  And now I’m clinging onto that feeling with this unique blood orange curd, as I cling to denial in a chilly, rainy fall taking a nosedive into true winter.

This recipe is similar to my pink grapefruit curd, in that I use a little less butter and go scant on sugar so as to not overpower the more delicate citrus flavor of the blood orange.  While a lemon or lime can really punch through, I find that orange, grapefruit, and blood orange are a little more subtle and need a lighter hand.

I ended up using 2 blood oranges…just the zest of one but most of the juice of both (about 1/3 cup total).  A little bit of extra lemon juice can help brighten just a bit, and a tiny pinch of salt just brings everything into balance.

The natural color of this curd will be a duller dark pink, possibly closer to a light brown.  You can add a tiny bit of pink or red gel coloring if you want it to be a brighter pink, red, or orange…I didn’t here, but it would be super easy.

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Anyone who knows me well will tell you that I am a lover of all things grapefruit.  Citrus things in general are up my alley, but there’s something special about a ruby red or pink grapefruit flavor.  So after I first tried my hand at a lemon curd and was blown away by its ease and flavor, I knew that a pink grapefruit curd was in my future.

The bright, sweet, soft flavors of this curd are inextricably associated with early spring for me. 

As I fiddled with getting this recipe just right, we got a stretch of cool but sunny days, pink flowers popping out on the trees, and the neighborhood lawns turning a rich green.  It’s a happy flavor tied to a happy time.

This pink grapefruit curd is a super simple adaptation of this simple lemon curd recipe.  The technique is exactly the same, but I had to tweak the ingredient amounts slightly for both this and my blood orange and regular orange versions. 

Because the grapefruit and the blood orange are softer, sweeter citrus flavors vs. the intensity and tartness of lemon, you need to back off slightly on both the sugar and butter in order for the real flavor of the fruit to shine through.  It pairs really well with strawberries, raspberries, and the like.

Naturally this curd will be yellow, because the pink juice can’t win out against the egg’s yolk.  If you want it to be pink, just add a TINY drop of food coloring (I prefer this gel coloring set and use it all the time). READ THE POST

The real question for this week is, why have I not made lemon curd before?!

I feel like you all are terrible friends for not making me try this earlier.  Because, GUYS, this lemon curd is so easy and so delicious, and takes less than 10 minutes.  You can do it while you’re waiting for your coffee to brew, or…other things that take around 10 minutes?  I don’t know at this point.  Regardless, it’s fast.

This lemon curd is quite sharp, but light and creamy.  It’s perfect as a filling in simple crepes, topping a pavlova, or swirled through yogurt.  Go nuts…layer it between cakes, spread it on toast, top coconut milk ice cream with it.  

You might also like this pink grapefruit curd, regular orange and blood orange curd!

In doing some research, I picked up a couple tips that were helpful (and mentioned in the recipe card below).  First, don’t use aluminum cookware because it reacts with the lemon juice.  I used a small stainless steel saucepan, which works perfectly.  It’s important not to use too much heat…a good medium flame should work.

And then I recommend stirring together the sugar with the egg, and then add the juice right as you’re putting on the heat.  If you add the juice to eggs without the sugar, the acid in the juice will “cook” the eggs and you’ll get those little white bits.

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