Raspberry Curd Recipe
This Raspberry Curd is a refreshingly delicious thick fruit spread. Freshly made raspberry puree is sweetened, then thickened with corn flour and egg yolks. The most common fruit curd is lemon curd, but it works just as well with raspberries due to their slightly sour flavour. Use this curd to spread on toast, generously spoon over a pavlova or meringue, swirl through ice cream. Use it to fill macarons or sandwich together biscuits, fill doughnuts or just eat it straight from the jar.
So how do I make this Raspberry Curd from scratch?
The steps involved in making this raspberry curd are pretty simple and are not too time consuming.
To begin, we need to make a raspberry puree. To do this, take your frozen or fresh raspberries and place them into a bowl. Mash them well with a fork or potato masher. Press the raspberries through a sieve, discarding the seeds and pulp left in the sieve.
In a saucepan, add the raspberry puree and sugar. Heat on low/medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. In a small bow, combine the water and corn flour until the corn flour has completely dissolved. Pour the “slurry” or corn flour mix into the raspberry puree. Whisk together and continue cooking for another 4-5 minutes until thickened significantly. Whisk occasionally to prevent burning.
To test when it has cooked enough, taste a little bit of the mix. If it tastes like cornflour still, continue cooking for another few minutes. Once the corn flour has been cooked off, remove from the heat. Add in the egg yolks and immediately start whisking. Whisk until completely combined. Add in the butter and continue whisking until the butter had completely melted into the curd. Pour into a sterilised jar, twist the lid on tightly and turn the jar upside down and leave to seal.
To sterilise a jar, submerge the jar and lids, separately, in very hot water for 5-10 minutes. Alternatively, you can place them in a hot oven with the lids off for 10-15 minutes.
Help! My curd didn’t thicken, why?
This is a common issue bakers face. This is because it can be quite difficult to tell when the curd has completely cooked. Sometimes it seems incredibly thick when in the pot but after jarring it, you notice it’s actually not setting as thick as you would like. Perhaps you’ve opened the jar and are disappointed at the strong corn flour taste when you should be tasting a delicious, creamy fruit spread. Never fear! There is a way you can thicken the curd, even after it has cooled.
To thicken this curd, place it into a heat safe bowl. Place this over a saucepan that is a little smaller and add hot water to about 1/3 of the way full so that it doesn’t directly touch the bowl. This is called a bain marie. Place over a low/medium-low heat. Cook for 5-10 minutes, whisking often until the curd has thickened substantially. If the water in the saucepan starts to boil and bubble over, turn down the heat or take the saucepan off the heat for a minute or two. The curd should become very shiny and should hold shape when mixed. Pour into a clean sterilised jar, tightly close the lid and turn upside down to cool and seal.
Any tips for a smooth Curd?
I’m glad you asked! I do have some tips for the best raspberry curd recipe! Although I do claim this recipe to be “no fail”, there are a few issues you may run into and I’d love to guide you through it with a few troubleshooting tips!
Mise En Place
– Make sure all your ingredients are weighed up before you begin. This recipe really only has a couple of steps and for best results, some of them should be done quickly. For example; when you are whisking in the egg yolks, you are relying on the residual heat from the boiled mixture to cook the egg yolks. If you didn’t have your egg yolks ready and allowed the mixture to cool while you had to separate and weigh them, it might not be hot enough to cook the egg yolks to create a thick, rich flavour. The curd may taste a bit eggy as a result.
-Similarly, make sure all your equipment is ready and your jars are sterilised/in the process of sterilisation. This recipe needs very little equipment so it’s important to have everything ready to go.
-Don’t mix the cornflour and water until you are just about to add it. Cornflour tends to sink when combined with water and left to stand. It creates a thick paste at the bottom of the bowl and tends to clump, if you don’t mix it thoroughly and right when you need it, you may end up with lumps of cornflour in the finished curd and nobody wants that.
-Follow the recipe exactly and do not put the saucepan back onto the heat once you have added the egg yolks. Egg yolks cook at 71°c (158°f) and if you follow the recipe, the mixture should be more than hot enough to cook the egg yolks. If this still bothers you, and you’d really like to return the mixture to the heat, make sure it is turned down low and you pass the finished curd through a sieve to catch any curdled egg yolk.
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe contains raspberries, sugar, water, corn flour, egg yolks and butter.
If the jars are sealed correctly, they have a shelf life of 1 month unopened. Opened, they have a shelf life of 5 days using this recipe.
You absolutely can! Wait until the curd has completely cooled and then place into an airtight container or ziploc bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Allow to defrost at room temperature for at least 45 minutes before using.
As discussed above, it’s very possible you didn’t cook the curd long enough. This means the corn flour wasn’t cooked enough to thicken sufficiently. In turn, the curd might not have been hot enough to then cook the egg yolks to thicken the curd. To fix this, place the curd on a bain marie (explanation in above post) on low temperature and cook for 5-6 minutes, whisking often until thick.
You can make fruit curd with a variety of different fruits. I tend to choose sour, strong tasting fruit like Gooseberry, Lemon and Blood Orange. If you are using a sweeter fruit, you may have to reduce the sugar in this recipe.
If the jar has been sealed properly, you can store the jar at room temperature, somewhere dark. If you have opened the jar, it should be stored in the fridge.
Interested in Fruit Curds? Check out my Curd Recipes, Here.
Thinking of Cake Recipes to slather this all over? Try having a look at my Cake Category, here.
Raspberry Curd
Equipment
- 1 Small saucepan
- 1 Small sieve
- 1 Whisk
- 1 Small Bowl
- 1 Fork
- 1 medium jar
Ingredients
- 300 grams raspberries fresh or frozen
- 150 grams caster sugar
- 30 grams cornflour
- 70 grams water
- 50 grams egg yolk about 3 medium eggs
- 20 grams butter
Instructions
- To begin, make a raspberry puree by mashing the raspberries with a fork in a bowl. Press the mashed raspberries through a sieve into a saucean to make a smooth puree with no seeds.
- Sterilise your jar by cleaning it thoroughly, and then filling up with boiling water. Leave the lid soaking in boiling water too while you make the curd. Alternatively, you can place the clean jar upside down into a hot oven while you make the curd.
- Add the sugar to the saucepan along with the raspberry puree and place on a medium heat until hot.
- In a small bowl, add the cornflour and water. Using the fork, mix together until no lumps remain.
- Add to the saucepan and continue cooking for 4-5 minutes until very thick. Continue whisking while cooking. Test the curd by tasting after 4-5 minutes. Once the chalky taste of cornflour is gone and the curd has thickened significantly, take it off the heat.
- Add in the egg yolks and whisk briskly until combined.
- Add in the butter and continue whisking until the butter has completely melted and combined fully.
- Pour the water out of your jar, if using water to sterilise. Add the curd directly into the jar once cooked. Place the lid tightly onto the jar and leave to cool upside down to help seal.
- Once cool, use within 5 days of opening. Unopened jars can keep for up to 3 months.
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