Easy Lime Curd or Lime Butter

I don't know about you, my lovelies, but I just love anything sweet made with lemons or limes. 

The sourness of either of these citrus fruits teamed with the sweetness of other foods, makes this a match made in heaven for me, and I often make this sort of thing.

I am also often trying savoury dishes using lemons however at the moment I have no fresh lemons.  Lemons are now mainly imported into Australia and are as much as $1 for a small lemon, and limes are slightly cheaper, which is most unusual!

However, once again I am digressing - I appear to be good at that!

This is such an easy recipe as you do not have to dirty any pots, and therefore little washing up afterwards.

I always keep a supply of "pretty" bottles for this sort of thing (and for jams), and I have even bought some because the jars were so attractive.

This recipe makes an excellent gift for a birthday, Christmas, or any other event, and everyone I have given it to, has been very appreciative.  They also last for ages in the fridge probably due to the sugar content.

It is lovely over ice cream, or over any pie or dessert, and I even love it on thick toast!  It is also great on crumpets, as a cake or tart filling, or horror of horrors, just eat it off the spoon.  I have been known to also do this, and it is hard to stop!

I made it in the microwave, and so it was very quick.  I also sterilise my jars by rinsing out with a bit of water, and then putting them in the microwave for a minute or two.  I do not do any other sterilising of jars, even when making jams, and I have rarely had a problem with mould.

This is a delicious, easy recipe and you can also use it in cakes, or it makes a delightful lime pie, or even small pies, which I have also done with great success.

Many recipes have you standing the lime butter in water to cook it however making it in the microwave makes it totally unnecessary to do this, and is therefore so much easier and quicker to make.

In this case I have used limes as I had limes growing in my garden at the time, however it works perfectly well using lemons and is a great way to use up those lemons if you have a lemon tree, and have heaps of lemons each year.

Make it, and wrap it in some pretty paper, and your friends will love you for it, and come back for more!

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 6 minutes
Makes: 3 large jars

Ingredients
3 large eggs
125 g butter
1½ cups sugar
½ cup lime juice (or lemon)
Zest from limes (optional)

Instructions
Juice the limes - you can do this in an electric juicer as I did it and this gets more juice out than doing it by hand.  However, if you do not have a juicer, do it whichever way you are used to.

Beat the eggs in a microwavable glass bowl, and add the chopped butter.

Add the sugar and lime juice -I do not even strain the juice.  Add the zest if using and I find it is nicer with zest as it is more tangy -use as much or as little as you want.

Cook for 1 minute at a time, and keep taking the mixture out of the microwave and stirring it after the one minute.  My microwave is fairly powerful, so you will need to judge this by how it looks.

As it gets nearer to being done, the lumps will disappear and it will get shiny.   You will have to cook it about four times, maybe even more till it reaches the correct consistency.

Then cook in 30 second intervals, about 3 more times, stirring in between.  You may get a few white spots however these seem to disappear when the curd cools (these are egg whites I assume).

You could cook it the traditional way of standing it in water over a double boiler, however I have not had a problem using this method as long as you keep stirring.  This method is also, as I mentioned above, far easier and less mess.

To sterilize the jars, I rinse them with water and microwave them for about 2 minutes making sure to tip out all water first.

Spoon or pour the curd into the jars.

When it is in the jars, and almost to the top, seal the jars straight away.

Store in the fridge - they will last for many months.

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