Easy blood orange curd recipe for a unique twist to citrus curd. Four ingredient small batch curd, perfect to accompany scones, toast, yoghurt or all sorts of desserts.
4 Ingredients for Easy Curd
- Blood oranges - the star of the show. These are sometimes called by the name of their specific variety, such as 'Sanguinello', 'Moro' or 'Tarocco'. Depending on ripeness and type, you may find your blood oranges on a scale from orange to red.
- Eggs - a couple of yolks and a whole egg. You can make curd with just egg yolks, but I find using a whole egg improves the overall texture.
- Sugar - superfine granulated sugar or caster sugar is added to help offset the tartness of fruit in curds.
- Butter - unsalted butter. I like to use butter that is already softened to room temperature as this will melt more easily and quickly into the curd than butter straight from being chilled in the fridge.
How to Make Blood Orange Curd
Curds are an easy process of thickening citrus (or other fruit) juices with eggs and sugar to create spreads.
Blood orange curd is not substantially different from orange curd, though you may find you need less sugar as blood oranges tend to be naturally sweeter than their orange cousins.
Simply place all ingredients (except for the butter) into a saucepan. I like to make small batch curds, so using a small, deep sided saucepan is most convenient.
Whisk the ingredients while cooking over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Then continue cooking for a further 15 minutes until thickened to coat the back of a spoon.
The classic test, is to coat the back of a standard soup spoon and then draw a line with your finger. The mixture should be thick enough that you're able to trace a solid clean line parting your curd. The mixture shouldn't run back together.
Remove from the heat and add the butter, whisking until melted and smooth. Now let set to cool, during which time it will thicken a bit more.
Ideas for Using This Curd
So now you've made blood orange curd, but what are you planning to do with it?! There are so many options!!
You could try:
- Adding blood orange curd to yoghurt or to a panna cotta for a citrus twist on creamy classics.
- Make a blood orange tart - just spread into a ready baked tart shell and chill for the easiest blood orange tart ever. The small quantity in this recipe will make for a couple of small tarts or a thin layer in a larger tart base. For a full tart, I'd recommend doubling the amount of blood orange curd.
- Throw a tea party! This curd is delicious with scones and some cream. Or even just on toast.
- Mix into ice cream. Want to create your very own creamsicle ice cream? Add orange curd to vanilla ice cream. This blood orange variety will give you a blood orange creamsicle twist.
- Try something else and let me know about it!
FAQs
Yes! Just like oranges, blood oranges can be made into silky smooth citrus curds. These are easy to make, requiring simple ingredients and processes. With a little patience, you will have a great spread for toast or scones, or a great filling for a blood orange tart.
Yes, you can freeze curd. Generally, with small batch curds, there isn't so much leftover that warrants freezing, however, if you want to make this well in advance of an event, simply allow the blood orange curd to chill in the refrigerator overnight before transferring to a freezer safe container to keep for up to three months.
Zest in curds is used to add extra flavour. During the cooking process, zest will enhance the citrus tang. You don't absolutely have to use this, but it will help improve the flavour. Prior to serving, its best to strain out the zest, for the smoothest curd.
If you've got sanguinello juice or other blood orange juices to use up, you can absolutely use these in making curd. Be sure that your juice is fresh not from concentrate.
For this recipe, use around ⅔ cup of juice and otherwise follow the same process.
Fancy a jam or other preserve, try these other small batch recipes:
Blood Orange Curd
Equipment
- Small saucepan
- whisk
- hand held orange squeezer
Ingredients
- 3 blood oranges zest and juice
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 whole egg
- ¼ cup superfine granulated sugar or caster sugar
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
Instructions
- Place the zest and juice of the blood oranges in a small saucepan, along with the sugar, egg yolks and 1 whole egg. Over a medium heat, cook while whisking continuously until the sugar dissolves.
- Continue cooking while whisking for 15 minutes as the mixture thickens. You are looking for this to be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Once thickened, remove from the heat and add the butter. Whisk until this has melted and the curd is smooth.
- Strain through a sieve to remove the zest and allow the curd to cool before serving.
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