Homemade Lemon Curd (egg-free)

5 from 1 vote

A delicious homemade lemon curd that is egg-free, tangy, creamy and sweet and healthier than store-bought and easier to make than egg-based recipes. Use it on tarts, cookies and my lemon cupcakes.

Prep Time5

Cook Time1 8

Total Time1 13

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 87kcal

Author: Dee Dine

Ingredients

1 cup lemon juice I used organic lemon juice from a bottle but you can obviously use freshly squeezed
5 tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot
1 cup organic cane sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
⅛ teaspoon turmeric
¾ cup coconut cream the solid portion ONLY from one can of full fat coconut milk
pinch of salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Prep

Remove the solid portion from a chilled can of full fat coconut milk. Reserve the coconut water for future recipes or smoothies.
¾ cup coconut cream
Put the solid cream into a pyrex measuring cup and set that into a pot of boiling water. Stir off and on until the coconut cream has melted into a liquid. Remove from stove and set aside.

Make Lemon Curd

In a pot, add ingredients except for sugar and cream. Stir on medium heat for about 2 minutes. The mixture should thicken to a shiny paste at almost 2 minutes in. As soon as it does, remove it from heat.
1 cup lemon juice, 5 tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot, ½ teaspoon vanilla, ⅛ teaspoon turmeric, pinch of salt
Turn off the stove, pour into the pot the melted coconut cream and sugar, put the pot back on the stove at medium heat, and stir until the mixture is thick and creamy. Never stop stirring and stop when you feel you’ve combined all you can. It should look glossy, yellow but bumpy.
¾ cup coconut cream, 1 cup organic cane sugar
At this point, you can either refrigerate your lemon curd and use it to eat. Or, if you want to smooth it out for a prettier texture, pour a slightly cooled mixture into your blender jar.
I waited about 5 minutes before blending. Most blenders don’t like hot mixtures and the top can pop off if you blend them so it’s best the mixture not be steaming. Or you can remove the cap from your blender jar cover if it has one to release any steam.
Once blended - about 30 seconds - pour the beautiful glossy lemon curd into a storage jar and set to cool for an hour or so in the fridge.

To Pipe Lemon Curd

To be sure the lemon curd is pipable for, say, onto cupcakes. Pour the blended mixture directly into a piping bag that has no tip and that has not been cut at the tip yet. Set that bag upright in a tall drinking glass in the refrigerator. To get the pipable structure you see in my healthy lemon cupcakes, I chilled my curd like that for about 1 hour before piping.
To make my lemon cupcakes with a hat as I did, simply cut a cone out of the top of the cupcake, cut the triangular bottom off the lid, fill the cupcake with curd and swirl it above to cupcake, then set the cap on top.
I sprinkled my cupcakes with lemon zest and powdered sugar. I store them refrigerated uncovered for about 2 days before they must be eaten.

Video

Notes

How to pipe. To stiffen the curd more for smooth piping, as you see in my cupcakes, add the curd to a baking bag or ziplock bag and chill for an hour or less in the refrigerator.

How to store. This easy curd is made from heating coconut cream and sugar so it needs to be refrigerated and as such can last about a week. It can be frozen for three months.

Nutrition