This whole thing started when I made some lime curd the other day to post on here and was trying to figure out something to accompany it. All I could come up withwas a GIF of a spoonful of it going towards my face. That wouldn’t make any sense, plus there would forever be a GIF of me eating on the Internet.
Many suggestions were crumpets, but I’m going to assume that the farro-less cavehole of a town that I live in has zero crumpets. The other suggestion was plain toast, but I was like, “Avocado’s gonna be pissed if it finds out it was swapped out for some curd.” Other options were pancakes and ice cream. Now, you know I was considering a pancake sundae with lime curd, but I had to shut that down real quick before it got too crazy.
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Then I remembered Deb over at Smitten Kitchen posted acoconut breadrecipe awhile ago, and I thought: Lime, meet coconut. Be friends; high five.
The original recipe is a loaf of bread. But it takes like an hour to cook, and my oven hates baking things that long; it decides to be an ass and make whatever’s in there dried up after 45 minutes.I settled for little bebes … aka muffins … aka hello, 25-minute bake time. And it worked. Voom voom shebang.
The muffins aren’t too sweet, not carazy coconutty, more dense than a cupcake, and just kind of a perfect palette for a nice slather of curd. Or butter. Or the salted honey brown butter spread witchcraft Deb has on her site.But, seriously, make this curd, and put it on everything.
Let me fill you in on citrus curd. The name rhymes with turd and makes no sense—the end. It should be called lemon butter or maybe even custard. Go ahead and scoop out some filling from lemon meringue pie, and you’ve pretty much got lemon curd. Bright and tangy and sweet and creamy all at once. It’s serious magic.You can put it on whatever carb you want or put it in a donut. Please someone put it in a donut. Amen.
I do have to tell you that there are a few methods out there for making the magic happen. I tried a few different recipes, and DavidLebovitz’s was by far the easiest and the best tasting. All you do is whisk. Then strain. Then devour. Then repeat. Total baby nonsense if babies were allowed to use the stove.
Brown Butter Coconut Muffins (makes 15 muffins or one loaf of bread if you follow Deb’s instructions)
Adapted fromSmitten Kitchen, just by omitting the cinnamon and using buttermilk because I’m the freak whohas no milk but has buttermilk.
2 eggs
1½ c buttermilk
1 t vanilla
2½ c all-purpose flour
¼ t salt
2 t baking powder
1 c sugar
1½ c sweetened shredded coconut
8 T butter, browned
Preheat oven to 350˚F.
In a small bowl, or 2 c measuring cup, mix together the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Stir in the sugar and coconut.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and add the wet; stir to combine, then stir in the butter. DO NOT OVER MIX.
Scoop out equal portions of the batter into paper-lined or greased cupcake tins. I used about ¼ cup in each.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until just barely golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. DO NOT OVER BAKE.
Lime Curd (Makes 1 cup)
FromDavid Lebovitz
½ c freshly squeezed lime juice
½ c granulated sugar
2 large egg yolks
2 large eggs
pinch of salt
6 T unsalted butter, cubed(slice into T, then each of those is quartered. Boom)
Before you start any cooking, go ahead and get a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl.
David suggests using a double boiler if you aren’t feeling McClane enough to just put the pot directly on the heat. I found the key is constant whisking and no crazy-high heats. You’ll be golden. McClane away.
Put everything except the butter in a medium-size saucepan over low heat and whisk. Add butter and continue to whisk until the butter is melted. Turn the heat to medium and cook until the mixture thickens enough that it holds its shape when it falls back into the saucepan from the whisk.This happens very fast and is why there needs to be constant whisking. “Constant” means don’t stop means one-arm workout.
As soon as it’s thickened, strain it into the bowl, cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface, and refrigerate until cooled, about an hour and a half.
Put on almost everything.
Billy Green is the voice behind the blogWit & Vinegar. He lives in Southern California with his partner, Steve, and their two dogs, Mose and Nomi, where he consumes way too much coffee and chocolate. If he’s notcooking, he’s probably watching some television revolving around housewives or drag queens. Follow along on Instagram at@witandvinegar.
