Limey goodness, part two

I'm one net-savvy bunny, I can tell you, and I must admit that, quite often these days, the internet is my cookbook.

Y'all remember I made some lime marmalade and lime curd recently? I've had (ahem!) limited success with marmalades in the past, so I did my research on how to get a good set and came up with a gem of advice from Dan Lepard of The Guardian. Apparently it's the acidity levels that are the usual suspect when your marmalade won't gel, and a good way to tweak this at home is with good old baking soda. Who knew? (Well, he did, apparently.)

Marmalade's a bit of a kerfuffle but this one was worth the fuss - and no, you can't taste the bicarb.

The lime curd recipe I used was a bit of a bunny original. I've always rather liked the local habit of referring to this stuff as lime honey, and I was curious (a bunny, curious? Quelle surprise!) about whether I could actually add some truth to the name. So I subbed-out some of the sugar for honey in my usual recipe, and I think you can taste it in the result.

Lime Honey (Lime Curd)

4 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons honey
zest of 6 limes
1/3 cup lime juice
80g of room temperature butter, cut into cubes. If your butter is unsalted, add a wee pinch of salt.

1. First find a saucepan and a heatproof bowl that you can plunk in it, which will allow enough room for about 6cm of water to simmer away under it without touching the bowl. If you have a double boiler, lucky you!
2. Pop the saucepan and its water on the heat and bring it to a simmer.
3. Put everything except the butter in your chosen bowl, and whisk to combine.
4. Put the bowl into the saucepan, double-checking that the simmering water isn't touching the bottom.
5. Whisk your mixture constantly until it thickens (this takes up to ten minutes). Make sure your water doesn't decide to boil during this time!
6. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and whisk the butter into your curd, a couple of cubes at a time. Wait until each piece is melted before adding the next lot.
7. Now strain your curd, gently pressing on the zesty bits to make sure you get the most out of it.
8. Bottle in sterilised jars. Don't keep it for more than about a month (because of the egg yolks) and refrigerate once it's opened. I find it tends to disappear rather fast anyway...

Enjoy! I love to nibble mine on toast, scones or pikelets. You can also use it as a dessert topping or, if you want some zesty party treats, bake spoonfuls in little short pastry cases. Just keep an eye on them - the curd burns quickly!