Life Gave Me Lemons
Once upon a time a friend convinced me to plant a Meyer Lemon bush in my garden. I was more of a mind to fill my indoor space with houseplants, but she was insistent: “Think permanent,” she urged. Think “feed your family.” Think “independence!”
When I moved to Santa Cruz 15 years ago, I dug up the bush and took it with me in a very large pot. It thrived on my front porch, bearing fruit year round.
It wasn’t so happy when I moved it – and me – to Southern California, but it seems to have adjusted, as I have. This year it produced five very large lemons and is once again filled with flowers.
My granddaughter harvested a couple of the lemons when she visited earlier this week, and today I made Lemon Curd, a treat from my childhood. That, along with Lemon Bars, always reminds me of my mother, who conjured up both sweets in her kitchen year after year.
I hope you enjoy them too.
Lemon Curd (Lemon Butter)
Ingredients
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 Tbsp grated lemon peel
Instructions
- In a 2 quart double boiler or saucepan, combine the butter, sugar, lemon juice and egg yolks.
- Cook over very low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Do not let the mixture boil or the egg yolks will curdle.
- Stir in the lemon peel.
- Pour into small canning jar and refrigerate.
- Lemon curd can be spread on bread or used as a filling for tarts.
Lemon Bars
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 cup flour sifted
Filling
- 2 eggs beaten lightly with fork
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 Tbsp flour
- 4 Tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
Crust
- Cream sugar and butter together
- Blend in flour
- Press into 8 x 8 uncreased pan
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes - don't let brown
Filling
- Blend eggs and sugar together
- Sift together flour and baking powder
- Mix together eggs, sugar, dry ingredients and lemon juice
- Spread on hot crust
- Bake again at 350 degrees about 20 minutes.
- Cool and dust with powdered sugar
- Cut into squares
Marlene Anne Bumgarner writes primarily about food, family, and traditions. Her 2020 memoir, Back to the Land in Silicon Valley, is about raising children, animals, and vegetables on a rural plot of land in the 1970s. Organic Cooking for (not-so-organic) Families will be out soon, and she’s working on an update to The Book of Whole Grains while also crafting a cozy mystery, Death on a Sunny Afternoon – a Harriet Palmer Mystery.
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Yum! We’re blessed with a high-producing dwarf (!) Meyer lemon tree, and I love lemon curd and lemon bars. I see cooking in my future!
Glad I could be your inspiration, Lizette.
Thank You Marlene, My mom discovered lemon curd while traveling foot-loose through Britain in her post-kids 60s. Once back to the US, she’d take me with her scouting gourmet food shops for the brand she loved. As my own Meyer lemon tree is promising a bumper crop this summer, I’ll definitely make your recipe.
I’m glad to hear it, A.T. The one caveat which I failed to mention in the recipe is to store your lemon curd in the refrigerator – especially if made with Meyer Lemons, which have a lower acid content than most other varieties.
Thanks Marlene,
Lemon curd has always been a favorite of mine, especially on toast. Now that I have the recipe, I’ll try to make some.
Always enjoy reading about you and your family.
Fondly, carla
Carla,
Happy to oblige!