Prickly Pear Lemon Curd #FoodieExtravaganza

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays or cook and bake together with the same ingredient or theme each month.

Posting day for #FoodieExtravaganza is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board!

This month - September - Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla invited the group to join her in wishing Happy Birthday to Duchess Anna, the Creator Of Afternoon Tea. She wrote, "Let's celebrate with anything Afternoon Tea-related. It can be your favorite tea, something made with tea, or something that you would eat at a tea party."

The #FoodieExtravaganza Tea Party

• Almond Clementine Cake Squares by Food Lust People Love
• Assorted Tea Sandwiches for Afternoon Tea by Karen's Kitchen Stories 
• Cherry Almond Scones by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Gourmet Fruit and Nut Crisps by Palatable Pastime
• Hawaij Coffee Scones by Caroline's Cooking
• Meat Pan Rolls by Sneha's Recipe  
• Prickly Pear Lemon Curd by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Pumpkin Cranberry Scones by Simply Inspired Meals

Tea Time!

As for me, I love a good tea party. Just this past April, I hosted a tea party for some of my favorite gals. You can read all about Girl Time! A Sipping Beauties Tea Party. I planned a menu that included blueberries, lavender, and chamomile to match a new line of teas from Republic of Tea.

I served blueberry scones (recipe here) with clotted cream, jam, and lavender-lemon curd; I poached chicken in chamomile tea and shredded that into a chicken salad for tea sandwiches; and I made pickled red onions and blueberries for my smoked salmon-mascarpone tea sandwiches.

And whenever my family and I are near a tea room, we go! One of our favorite spots is in Santa Cruz. We always walk away with several new-to-us teas, but they don't have much in the way of tea snacks.

When I started thinking about what I wanted to share today, I realized that lemon curd is one of my constants with tea and scones. So, that's what I'm sharing. The prickly pear added a lovely pink tinge to the final curd. Enjoy...and happy birthday to Duchess Anna!

Prickly Pear Lemon Curd

makes approximately 9 C

One afternoon my kids walked in the door with a huge bowl full of Meyer lemons from my parents' house. What's a girl to do? You make lemon curd! Lots and lots of lemon curd. I jarred roughly 9 cups of curd for this batch.

I also saw two prickly pears in my fruit bowl and decided to add those to the curd. They turned it a lovely salmon color. So pretty!

Ingredients makes approximately 9 cups of curd

• 3 C freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3 C organic sugar
• 18 large eggs
• 36 T butter, cut into cubes
• juice from 1 prickly pear

Procedure

Whisk together lemon juice, sugar, and eggs in a large pot or Dutch oven. Bring to a simmer and whisk until it begins to thicken. Add in the prickly pear juice, then stir in butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking frequently, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubble appears on surface, approximately 6 to 7 minutes.

Let it cool for 5 minutes or so and cover it with plastic wrap, touching the surface; this will keep it from forming a skin. Let cool for at least 1 hour.

Spoon into sterile jars, cover, and refrigerate.