Lemon cheese is not to be confused with lemon curd. Lemon curd is usually set with pectin or cornstarch and was the traditional filling, along with jam, for English scones. Lemon cheese uses more eggs and is much richer in flavor, as well as a lot thicker. Lemon cheese can be piped into tartlets, scones, and other pastry goods; lemon curd can’t. I use organic eggs, as the feed often results in a creamier yellow yolk, which will in turn give me a lemon-colored cheese.
Microplanes have replaced old box graters in most cooks’ kitchens. They produce a fine shaving of lemon zest that not only adds extra flavor, but also aids in the coloring. I’ve listed vanilla bean paste as one of the ingredients. It isn’t as common as vanilla extract, but I’ve had good luck finding it at Whole Foods and other gourmet markets. Finally, the European-style butter (English butter if you can get it), with its creamier taste and silkier texture caused by the slower and longer churning, helps produce this velvety lemon cheese.
½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, about 3 lemons
½ cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
1 cup European unsalted butter, cut
into small pieces
1. Set a large metal bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Add the lemon juice, sugar, eggs, yolks, zest, and salt. Whisk the ingredients together and keep stirring until the mixture starts to thicken. Keep moving the mixture with the whisk as it cooks on the bottom of the bowl.
2. Remove the mixture from the heat once it has thickened to the consistency of sour cream. Add the vanilla paste and butter. Whisk until combined. Cover with buttered parchment paper, and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before using. Refrigerated lemon cheese will keep for about one week.
MAKES ENOUGH TO SPREAD ON 16 SCONES AND TO GIVE TO A FRIEND IN A JAR FOR EASTER