This easy to make at home Lemon Curd and Goat Cheese Ice Cream recipe is creamy, sweet, tangy, and basically summer in a bowl. Bonus – it’s super easy to make!
Tea Time
The first time I had lemon curd was in England, where my husband is from, though it was long before we met. I was studying abroad at Cambridge University, and they had a little reception – a fancy tea! – for some of us in a beautiful, quintessentially English garden.
The gardens were full of hyacinth and lavender.
Everywhere you looked there were blooms dripping to the lush green ground, and the air smelled of purple and blue and budding roses.
For a girl who grew up reading Victorian novels, it was heaven.
And then there was the tea. At which I drank no tea.
Because it was a fancy tea! And there was champagne!
And I was the romantic girl, you see, who loved the idea of clinking a crystal glass in a garden while wearing a semi-fancy dress. And eating dainty things.
And oh my, the dainty things were delicious! Little sandwiches with fillings like cucumber and cream cheese, egg salad and watercress. Shortbread and scones with clotted cream. And then there were these tarts, stacked on a little tiered silver tray and beaming like sunny smiles.
I adored these tarts. A little bite size pastry cup filled with lemon curd and topped with blueberries and glazed and oh so pretty and oh so tasty and I was hooked.
They tasted like the garden party itself. Pretty, feminine, sweet, tart, sunny, and a dream come true.
You are welcome to find me hilarious. I find my younger self hilarious sometimes too!
What is Lemon Curd Anyway?
To me it seems strange that something as delicious as lemon curd has such a horrible name. Curd! Like curds and whey in the nursery rhyme. Nobody eats curds and whey anymore!
I mean, what even ARE curds and whey?
Lemon curd, though, is similar to jam, except made with fruit juice. And it’s easy to make, as it is basically just lemon juice, butter, and egg yolk heated together into what is quite literally awesome sauce.
Because I am a food geek, I thought you might also be interested in this post, which traces lemon curd back to when it was really and truly a curd – or curdled, and separated using a cheese cloth. The post also talks about how sugar – which we take for granted in it’s granulated form these days – used to be in a big block, or loaf.
It makes you grateful for the modern kitchen doesn’t it?
Where do I get Lemon Curd?
When I make a citrus curd I use this tutorial from The Kitchn. This tutorial is my favorite because I can use any citrus here – and honestly, Blood Orange Curd? That stuff is AMAZING and you are certain to see it here on the blog in a future post!
If you don’t want to make your own lemon curd, though, store bought or ready prepared curd is easy to find.
Homemade Ice Cream
My husband and I are ALL about homemade ice cream these days. I got him an ice cream maker attachment for our Kitchen Aid Mixer for his birthday a couple weeks ago, and now we are making all of our own ice cream.
I honestly hadn’t had homemade ice cream since I was a kid. We had an ice cream maker then, and it was that old fashioned kind with a crank. It took forever to make, and was more icy than creamy. And we only ever made vanilla. Not to knock vanilla, but it can be ho hum you know?
But folks, things have come a long way since then. This Kitchen Aid attachment we bought is so easy to use. It does have to be frozen overnight. The models that don’t require overnight freezing, where you can make multiple batches at once, are a bit more expensive. I thought we’d start with the attachment, as it seemed a good value. If we’re still making ice cream all the time in a couple of months we can upgrade.
If you’d like a more affordable option, though, check this one out. This one will make a slightly icier batch, but its still good, quick homemade ice cream, and what’s not to love about that?
Ice Cream Recipe Testing
This was the first ice cream recipe I tried, though, because I had the lemon curd already ready, and it was hot that weekend, and, I had lemon curd on the brain. I’ve got a ton of ice cream recipes on the brain now, though, so stay tuned. You might see another homemade ice cream recipe or two as the summer unfolds!
To me, this ice cream is tangy, sweet, delicious, and summery.
It always reminds me of that garden party when I eat it. And that was a happy, happy place to be.
I hope you enjoy this ice cream as much as we do!
Do you ever make homemade ice cream? What’s your favorite ice cream flavor combo? Let me know in the comments!
Lemon Curd and Goat Cheese Ice Cream Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Teaspoons Corn Starch
- 1 Cup Whole Milk
- 2 Cups Heavy Cream
- 1/3 Cup Sugar
- 1/4 Teaspoon Fine Sea Salt I like French Grey Sea Salt.
- 3 Tablespoons Goat Cheese Crumbles
- 1/2 Cup Lemon Curd Prepared
Instructions
- Prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice and setting a medium bowl inside it.
- In a small bowl combine the lemon curd, goat cheese, and salt and mix until the cheese has thinned out and little to no lumps remain. Place in ice bath.
- In a separate small bowl, whisk 1-2 tablespoons of milk with the cornstarch until it has dissolved, and set aside.
- In a medium sauce pan, combine cream, milk, and sugar and bring to a gentle boil. Boil for 3-5 minutes.
- Remove the mixture from heat and whisk in the milk/cornstarch mixture, and then return to heat.
- Whisk on medium heat until the mixture begins to boil. Let the mixture thicken slightly, but be careful not to scald your cream.
- Slowly stir the cream mixture into the lemon curd mixture, and stir well to combine.
- Place the combined mixture in the ice bath, and set the ice bath in your refrigerator for a minimum of 3 hours, and up to overnight.
- Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.
