Lemon Curd

This is one of the many ingredients someone should have in their pantry. It`l like gold on toast, on a bagel, on donuts, on pancakes...the list could go on forever, in my opinion.

There`s nothing much to be said about this recipe. Everything is just perfect when it comes to lemon curd.

And yes, I do plan to post a breakfast recipe related to this post. It became on of the favorites in our household.

So back to the preparation method which is so,so easy that everybody can do it. You only need to whisk for a good 10 minutes until it thickens. Plop in some butter and that`s it. Spoon it over whatever you want. :)

I`m not saying this is a "fool-proof" recipe, because I don`t believe in such things. There is always a chances of me screwing up things when I make them for the first time, but this lemon curd is not it. My first batch of Macarons (which were horrible, by the way) were filled with Lemon Curd. The recipe I used at the beginning was that of the good Stephanie Jaworski from Joy Of Baking. Maybe it was my fault (I`m sure it was my fault, I had little to no experience back then), but my Macarons looked like stones and my lemon curd had a vomit sort of consistency. But I improved and created my own recipe, with 5 egg yolks, sugar, a lot of lemon zest and juice and butter. No flour involved here. Lemon Curd is originally without any thickener, but I`ve seen some recipes calling for cornstarch or things like that. But not here. We`re talking traditional, old-fashioned lemon curd.

Ingredients:

5 egg yolks

47 gr unsalted butter

2 large lemons or 3 medium ones

200 gr granulated white sugar

Directions:

1. Fill a medium sized pot with a bit of water and bring it to a boil, then place a saucepan that`s fitting over the top. Take care so the water doesn`t touch the bottom of the saucepan, you only want the steam to heat. Bring the water to a simmer and keep it like that (simmering).

2. Grate the lemon peel (from all of the lemons) and squeeze the juice out of them. Put them in the saucepan over the simmering pot of water, together with the egg yolks and sugar. Whisk them well for 10 minutes or so. You will notice the mixture will start to thicken and after 10 minutes it might be done. You know it`s ready when you run your finger on the back of the spoon and it stays separated, meaning that the trace of your finger will not disappear.

3. Take the saucepan off the heat and add the butter, whisking well until the butter is completely melted in the lemon mixture. Transfer it to another clean bowl, loosely cover the surface with plastic wrap and leave it to cool completely. Store it in a mason jar and place it in the fridge. The lemon curd keeps up to 2 weeks.

Strawberry Buttermilk Pancakes

I don`t think humanity will ever be able to justify the love for pancakes. Maybe some of you think they`re boring, and that`s perfectly fine because they really are: just "poor Man`s" ingredients and you have a dessert. 

But what I love about pancakes is that you can make a lot of variations of them without worrying that the result will fail. Sweet or savory, either way, they are delicious, comforting and perfect when you feel like you want a treat without much fuss.

I wish these came out a bit more pink, but well, life takes me by surprise these days. I served mine with good ol` syrup. Rose syrup, to be more precise.

I should have made a strawberry sauce to top the pancakes. It happened that I forgot. It happens very often to me.

I took like 100k pictures of these (ok, kidding...not that many but close), although I decided to post only a few. The ones I liked the most. And yes, I do edit my photos lately because a good camera is never enough.

Besides my sudden craving for pancakes, I had another one hit me in the head(or should I say stomach?): Mac N` Cheese. My way. My favorite Mac N` Cheese with Mozzarella and sharp Cheddar(is this the correct spelling? I have no idea. Please tell me if I`m wrong). So I satisfied my both cravings. What a wonderful day! 

And I made some Banana Caramel Blondies. If I didn`t delete the pictures by mistake, chances are I`ll post a recipe on that one. 

I don`t want to write nonsensical stuff about my life, so I`ll let you with the recipe:

Ingredients:

188 gr fresh or frozen strawberries pureed(in the blender or food processor)

1 egg white

3 Tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk (substitute it for the same amount of regular milk+ 1 Tablespoon of vinegar or fresh lemon juice)

1 cup all purpose plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3 Tablespoons vegetable oil (not olive oil or you`ll spoil the taste!)

 a knob of butter/cooking spray/oil for lightly greasing the pan so nothing sticks

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda. Set aside. These are your dry ingredients.

2. In a larger bowl, lightly beat the egg white, add vanilla, milk, oil and the strawberry puree. These are your wet ingredients.

3. Make an indentation in the middle of your dry ingredients and pour the wet in there. Using a whisk or a spatula, gently incorporate them together, but just until combined. If your mix too much, you develop the gluten in the flour and will have hard, bready pancakes. Don`t want that.

4. Set a pan over medium heat and wait for it to come to the right temperature. You can check by wetting your fingers in water and then let a few drops fall in the pan. The drops of water should immediately "dance" (or pop, I don`t know how to describe it) and make a hiss, then they will start evaporating. This is how you know your pan is ready.

Lightly grease or spray with cooking spray the surface of the pan and drop a small amount (about 1/4 to 1/2 a cup, depending on the desired size of your pancakes). After 1 minute or a bit longer, you`ll see bubbles appearing around the edges of your pancakes. At one point, the bubbles will pop and leave a hole behind them. That`s the moment when you know you can flip your pancake. Carefully insert the heatproof spatula underneath the pancake and with a rapid movement, flip it on the other side and wait 30 seconds to 1 minute until it cooks.

Repeat with the rest of your batter until you run out of it.

If you want to keep the pancakes warm, heat the oven as low as it can go (usually 170 d F/50 d C), put a plate inside and whenever you are done with one pancake, put it on that plate and in the oven. This way, they`ll be hot and steamy when you serve them.

Top with whatever you want and enjoy the rest of the day.