Raise your hand if you’ve had lemon curd. Pretty magical stuff, right?

Now, raise your hand if you’ve had clementine curd…. Say what now?!? Yup, I was there too. But guess what! It’s winter and clementines are in season. So grab a box of Cuties and whip up a batch. It may be your first, but it won’t be your last – and I promise it’s super easy and delicious!

Clementine Curd

Ingredients:

2 large yolks
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Zest of 3 clementines
Zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed please!
3/4 cup clementine juice
6-8 tbs. cold, unsalted butter (use 6 for less buttery/rich curd, or 8 for more buttery/rich curd)

Tools:

Measuring spoons and cups
Microplane grater or rasp or fine cheese grater or zester
A pot
A glass bowl (the base of the bowl must be larger than the pot so that it just sits on top of the pot)
A second glass bowl – at least 3 cups in volume
A whisk
A silicon spatula
Fine mesh strainer
Plastic wrap

1. Set up your double boiler : Fill a pot about 1/3 full with water and put it on high heat to boil.

2. Mix custard : In your larger glass bowl, whisk together your yolks, eggs, sugar, salt, and juices.

3. Cook custard : Reduce water to a simmer, then set the glass bowl on top of the pot. Whisk well, periodically scrapping down the sides with your silicon spatula. It is important you whisk and mix your custard so it cooks evenly and the eggs don’t curdle/scramble. But whisk and stir slowly, you don’t want air bubbles. Cook until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 15 minutes).

4. Add butter : Now, remove from heat and whisk in your butter, slowly, in 1 tablespoon increments, until all the butter is incorporated.

5. Strain custard : Set the fine mesh strainer over the second bowl and pour the custard through. This step is to catch any bits of egg that did curdle and to insure a silky smooth custard.

6. Add zest and chill : Mix in the lemon and clementine zest, place plastic wrap over your bowl so that it completely touches the curd (this prevents the curd from forming a skin while chilling). Chill your curd for at least 4 hours. It will thicken more as it cools.

Makes approximately 2 cups

Storage : Curd will keep for at one week if covered with plastic wrap. You can also can curd for shelf-stable preservation.

__________________________________________________________________________________

So, you want to kick it up and get a little fancy?? Make rosemary shortbread tarts and top with your clementine curd! This part is easy too!

Rosemary Shortbread Tarts

Ingredients:

1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup sugar
8 tbs unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1/2 tsp salt – use a coarse salt (like sea salt)
1 tbs fresh rosemary, chopped (or 1.5 tsp dried rosemary)
2-1/3 cups all purpose flour

Tools:

Large mixing bowl
Knife
Electric mixer (or well toned biceps and a mixing spoon)
Silicon spatula
Muffin pan or cupcake pan or tartlet tins (I used a mini-cupcake/muffin pan but you can use regular sized cupcake pan)

1. Cream butter & sugar : Add butter, sugar, and honey to your mixing bowl and beat until fluffy.

2. Add egg, salt, and rosemary. Mix until it is well incorporated.

3. Add flour : Dump in flour – literally – and mix until it is well incorporated. You will probably need a mixing spoon for this.

4. Chill : Scrape down sides of bowl, remove from the bowl and form dough into a disk. Wrap the disk in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.

5. Form tarts : For a mini-cupcake sized pan – form golf ball sized balls from your shortbread dough by rolling 1-1.5 tbs pieces of dough in the palm of your hands. Place in the base of the each cupcake mold and use your thumb to press the dough into the mold so that it fills and lines the mold. This doesn’t have to be perfect. Also, this gets very sticky so it helps to flour your hands and/or roll the dough balls in flour before pressing into shape.

6. Bake : Bake at 350F for 10 – 12 minutes. Enjoy the wonderful aroma!!

7. Cool : Remove from pan while still warm and use your thumb to press an indentation into the shortbread. This will help create room to hold the yummy clementine curd because the shortbread raises a bit in the oven. Let cool on a rack until they’re room temperature.

8. Fill : Top with a nice spoon full of yummy clementine curd or enjoy plain!

Makes 4 dozen tartlets

Storage : This dough freezes very well so make the whole recipe and freeze half for later. Baked shortbread tarts will keep for at least a week but keep them covered and in the refrigerator.