This gorgeous, silky blood orange curd is sweet, delicious and so easy to make! A curd is one of many ways to preserve fruit. The juice is cooked with sugar, eggs and butter to make a creamy spread. Citrus fruit is most commonly used – you have probably tried lemon curd before – but you can also use passionfruit, mango, berries or cranberries. Fruit with a slightly tart flavour seems to work really well.
I love that it only takes a few basic ingredients to create a delicious curd that’s perfect as a cake, cookie or tart filling. Or you can use it as a spread on toast, pancakes or scones. Or even swirl it into cheesecake, ice cream or icing!
My lovely Nanna brought over a heap of home-grown blood oranges the other day and I wanted to make something special with them. I remember when my Grandpa planted this tree in the back garden when I was a kid. It is really special that we are still enjoying the fruit many (many) years later. Last year I made this lovely Loaf Cake studded with cranberries and flavoured with the zest of the gifted blood oranges. This year I knew I wanted to make a homemade curd and somehow it turned out even better than I expected!
Blood oranges can be any colour inside from orange to a deep dark red. The colour of the juice will affect the colour of your finished curd, anywhere from a pale orange to a pinkish or coral colour. Although the colour of these was not as vibrant red as I’ve seen before, they were so sweet and definitely distinctive from regular oranges. Their season goes from August to October in Australia, so now is the perfect time to try this recipe if you can get your hands on some fresh blood oranges! If you can’t get your hands on them, Cara Cara oranges are a good substitute. They also have a sweet taste and pinkish orange flesh inside.
As I said before, making curd is actually so easy and perfect for beginner bakers. You only need a handful of ingredients and a bit of arm power for whisking.
Here’s what you’ll need to make Blood Orange Curd…
Blood Oranges – this recipe will use both the juice and zest of the blood oranges. However if blood oranges aren’t in season where you are, you can substitute any other kind of citrus here. This recipe is very versatile. Switch the juice and zest component out for an equal amount of lemon, lime, calamansi or grapefruit.
Eggs – some recipes use only egg yolks but this one has 3 eggs and 2 egg yolks. The whole eggs help to thicken the curd to a lovely consistency that is perfect for use in other recipes. I also hate having a lot of egg whites leftover!
Sugar – Caster sugar is preferable but I actually didn’t have any this day. I used regular granulated sugar and it also worked just fine in this recipe. Sugar also helps in both the taste and chemistry of this recipe. It helps to balance out the tartness of whatever citrus you use and helps to stabilise the eggs while cooking.
Butter – Butter makes the curd silky soft and creamy. Is it controversial to say I use regular salted butter in almost all of my cooking and baking? A little bit of salt adds flavour! Unsalted butter is fine too, and adding a small pinch of salt is optional.
Silicone Whisk – Not an ingredient, but it’s important to know that metal whisks (and also reactive bowls or saucepans) can react with the eggs and lemon and impart a metallic taste. Luckily this can be easily avoided by using a silicone whisk. Mine looks like funfetti. I love it. Stainless steel, enamel and ceramic cookware is recommended too.
Whisk everything except the eggs in a saucepan until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and egg yolks together.
Then you’re going to slowly pour in the warm blood orange juice mixture into the eggs while whisking constantly so that you don’t scramble the eggs. This is called tempering. Once combined, pour back into the saucepan. Whisk constantly over a low heat until the mixture has thickened to your desired consistency.
If you accidentally scramble the eggs, you can just strain with a fine mesh sieve. It’s important to store any kind of curd in the fridge, because it contains eggs and butter. It should last about 3 weeks refrigerated so you can make it slightly ahead of time if necessary.
I used this Blood Orange Curd in another recipe that I’ll be sharing soon – Blood Orange Curd Thumbprint Cookies! And yes they are as delicious as they sound. Stay tuned!
Related Post: Blood Orange and Cranberry Loaf Cake
Blood Orange Curd
This gorgeous, silky blood orange curd is sweet, delicious and so easy to make! You only need a handful of ingredients and a bit of arm power for whisking.
Ingredients
- 175 ml blood orange juice
- 1-2 teaspoons blood orange zest
- 165 g butter
- 3/4 cup caster sugar or granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
Instructions
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Place blood orange juice, zest, butter and sugar into a saucepan and whisk over medium heat until the butter is melted and the sugar has dissolved
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Put 3 eggs and 2 egg yolks into a bowl and whisk them together. Pour the blood orange mixture over the eggs slowly and whisk them together.
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Put the mixture back into the saucepan and whisk continuously for 6-7 minutes until it has thickened and coats the back of a spoon.
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Pour into sterilised jars and store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. Makes about 2 cups/jars.