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One of my favorite holidays is coming up next week. The 4th of July! I am so excited. I love watching fireworks and enjoying food and laughs with family and friends. There is no way I was going to let 4th of July slip by without a recipe to help put us in the spirit for celebrating the good old US of A.
I had a bunch of egg yolks hanging out in my refrigerator because I’ve been making tons of broccoli and cheddar-bacon-quinoa bites lately. Every time I would poke my head into the refrigerator, those egg yolks would stare at me. They were begging to be used. I hate wasting food. So, I thought of a nice beautiful tart lemon curd. Yum. But yellow is not the festive color we want for the 4th of July.
Then I thought, why not make the curd red by using berries. Genius, right?
As you can see the curd turned out to be more of a berry purple color rather than a blue or a red. It is in the same color family as red and blue, right? The most important thing is that it tastes divine, so I am embracing it and still calling it a 4th of July color. It’s better than yellow at least.
If you want your curd to be more of a true red, I suggest you use raspberries and strawberries. Or for more of a blue, you can use blueberries and blackberries. I used a mix of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries because that’s what I had on hand. Any kind of berries would be wonderful.
This mixed berry curd is quick and simple to make. Thick and creamy, fruity, and just the right amount of sweetness with a hint of tartness. If you are bringing your curd to a potluck I suggest serving it with your favorite sugar cookies, shortbread cookies, scones, or muffins.
If you are enjoying the mixed berry curd by yourself, it is great mixed into yogurt, on toast, in oatmeal, over ice cream, or just licked right off of the spoon.
Let’s whip up some mixed berry curd and get ready to sit back and watch the fireworks next week.
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Mixed Berry Curd
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 20 mins
- Yield: 20 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Gluten Free
Description
Mixed berry curd is tasty treat. It is quick to make and you can use any type of berry you like.
Ingredients
- For Berry Sauce:
- 4 1/2 cups frozen mixed berries (I used blueberries, raspberries, blackberries)*
- 3 1/2 cups frozen strawberries
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 6 tablespoons raw sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- For the Curd:
- 6 large egg yolks
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks, brought to room temperature
Instructions
- For Berry Sauce:
- Place the frozen berries in a small sauce pot. Cook for 3 minutes on medium-low heat. Add the sugar, lemon juice, salt, and vanilla extract. Allow to cook until the sugar is dissolved and all of the berries are unthawed, about 8 minutes.
- Transfer the berries and their liquid to a blender or food processor. Process until thoroughly blended, about 3 minutes.
- Place a fine mesh strainer over a bowl and pour the berry sauce into the strainer to strain out the seeds. Use a spoon to help push the liquid through; discard the seeds. The berry sauce should yield about 3 cups. Set the berry sauce aside.
- For the Curd:
- Add 2 inches of water to a small sauce pan and set on high to boil and reduce to a simmer. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Place the bowl of egg yolks on top of the pot of simmering water. Make sure the water is not touching the bowl; it’s the steam that will cook the eggs.
- Stir the eggs with a wooden spoon constantly, for about 5 to 7 minutes, or until the eggs have thickened and stick to the spoon. It is very important that you stir constantly so that the eggs don’t get too warm and begin to scramble. Remove the bowl from the heat immediately.
- If there are bits of cooked egg in your curd, then strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove.
- Stir in the chunks of butter one by one until they are each melted. Add 2 ½ cups of the berry sauce to the curd**. Mix thoroughly. You can reserve the ½ cup of berry sauce to use in yogurt, on top of ice cream or for a curd in the future. Store in an airtight container for 2 weeks or in the freezer for several months.
- Transfer the berry curd to an airtight container. Place plastic wrap just touching the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Place in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours to chill before serving.
- Serve with sugar cookies, shortbread cookies, scones, muffins, toast, or stir into yogurt or oatmeal. It would even be delicious with some vanilla ice cream. Store in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks.
Notes
*If using fresh berries, add a tablespoon or more of water as needed to help cook the berries down. IF using frozen berries, the water is not needed; there will be enough as they thaw out.
** You may add all 3 cups of berry sauce to the curd for a stronger flavor and deeper color, but it will thin out the consistency a little. I found the 2 ½ cups of berry sauce to be perfect, and I was happy to save some leftover berry sauce for another use.
Resources:
Chow
100 Days of Real Food
Can you please tell me the recipe in grams please? I’m making a lemon curd roulade in advance for xmas and wanted to make a forest fruits one with a mixed fruit curd. Your recipe looks delish…ps.. i make and store them ready made in the freezer till christmas. Many thanks xxx
Hi, in grams you will need: 450 grams frozen mixed berries, 432 grams frozen strawberries, 75 grams sugar, and 56.7 grams butter. You can simply add a splash or two of vanilla and a generous pinch of salt. The eggs and lemon juice will be the same.
These are estimated calculations I got from google, so I can’t guarantee their accuracy. However, this recipe is very forgiving, so you shouldn’t need to worry about having the exact measurements – except for the eggs. The eggs are what gives the curd a custard like consistency. Hope this helps and let me know how it turns out.
This is a very nice recipe and a good way to use up egg yolks and frozen berries at any time of the year! After sitting in the fridge overnight, mine has firmed up a little but is probably still too liquidy to safely spread. Although it tastes very good straight out of the bowl!
Glad to her you enjoyed the recipe. Thanks for sharing 🙂