Meyer Lemon Curd

A hybrid lemon and mandarin orange, meyer lemons have such an interesting, complex flavor and I haven't been able to get enough!  My mom is a huge fan of lemon curd, so when I saw meyer lemons at costco, I immediately picked them up (without thinking about when I'd have the time to make it!).

Lemon curd might be the best way to showcase this flavor, and I especially loved this version I made using vanilla sugar.

Meyer Lemon Curd
adapted from Baking Bites

A versatile spread, try this lemon curd on toast, cheesecake, or your favorite quickbread!

1c meyer lemon juice (from ~5 lemons)
zest of 4-5 lemons
3/4c vanilla sugar*
3 eggs, RT
1/2T vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, combine lemon juice, zest and sugar.  Heat until sugar has dissolved, creating a lemon simple syrup.  Remove from heat.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat 3 room temp eggs.  s l o w l y drizzle in lemon simple syrup with the mixer on low speed (you don't want to scramble the eggs!).  Increase speed to medium and beat for 1-2min.

Strain mixture back into saucepan and heat over low heat until mixture becomes thick, whisking occasionally.  Just as lemon curd is coming to a boil, remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  Once cool, transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge.

*To make vanilla sugar, I combined an empty vanilla bean pod and maybe 4-6c of granulated sugar in the bowl of a food processor.  After a quick whirl, the vanilla bean had broken up and the sugar became finer (more akin to powdered sugar than granulated sugar).  If substituting regular granulated sugar in this recipe, you might want to increase the sugar up to 1c.

What would you put your lemon curd on?