Martha Stewart’s Super-easy Lemon Curd Is a Must-know for Your Spring & Summer Desserts

No flavor screams summer quite like lemon. And if you know how to make a stellar lemon dessert, you’re set for every dinner party, BBQ, and cocktail hour for the entire summer season. Martha Stewart’s lemon curd recipe is the perfect place to start building out your summer sweets menu because it can be used in so many different pastries, cakes, and tarts, that you’ll never repeat the exact same dessert twice.

“Our modernized recipe for lemon curd is light-years simpler than traditional versions: no double boiler or tempering necessary,” the caption of an April 17 official Martha Stewart Instagram post reads. “Once it’s chilled, pipe the wonderfully tangy cream into tartlets, spread it on scones, serve dollops with granola, and layer it in ice cream sandwiches.”

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Making lemon curd used to be a finicky process that required tempering eggs in a double boiler to ensure you don’t end up with a scramble. This recipe, however, comes together more like a flour roux for thickening sauces. Everything is whisked together in a pot and then heated slowly over medium heat.

While the mixture is heating, you want to make sure you’re whisking it at all times. This will ensure your eggs won’t cook at the bottom of the pan and that everything stays creamed together, smooth, and evenly cooked. It takes about five minutes for the heating and whisking to do their thing, and then you add butter off the heat.

Finally, you run the entire curd through a fine sieve to remove any pieces of lemon zest and cooked egg whites, and your lemon curd is complete. Once cooled, it can sit in your fridge for up to one week (you can even freeze it for up to two months).

Grab the full recipe on Stewart’s website and get your gears turning to figure out all the ways you can work lemon curd into your summer sweets.