I have intended to make lemon curd for a while now. Ever since I made Macaroons, I've meant to do something with the leftover yolks. Those yolks are long gone, but I was playing in the kitchen today with a recipe (it totally flopped) that called for egg whites, leaving me with lots of yolks.
To be honest, I wasn't really clear what lemon curd is used for other than in say a lemon meringue pie. Google search and the Healthy Living How To Facebook Friends to the rescue.
I love the idea of a lemon tart with a shortbread crust and found a few recipes that called for lemon curd combined with cream cheese (I would combine with soft goat cheese). And that is where the inspiration came from for today's healthy low-carb, sugar-free, gluten-free recipe, Lemon Curd with Almond Shortbread Cookies.
After doing some research, it appears lemon curd it simply egg yolks (although some recipe use the whole egg), sugar, lemon juice (fresh or bottled) and butter. With the exception of sugar, the remaining ingredients are all great for a low-carb lifestyle. In my recipes I prefer to use natural low-carb sweeteners, stevia, erythritol and xylitol, often combining them.
While there are many positives to using erythritol and xylitol, the one drawback of both is they re-crystallize once heated and cooled. This isn't an issue in baked goods, but in sauces and syrups (and curd) it results in grittiness. The way to overcome this is to combine with stevia as well as to “powder” the granules in a coffee grinder or high-powered blender.
Just so you know, you could totally take the shortbread cookie recipe and smoosh it into mini-tart pans, bake and then fill with the curd, top with Coconut Whipped Cream and maybe a few raspberries. In fact, this recipe is essentially my Basic Nut Crust recipe with added sweetener. And if I decide to make a lemon curd goat cheese concoction, you will be the first to know. Now let's get to the recipes!
Ingredients
- 6 Large Organic Egg Yolks
- 1/3 c. Organic Lemon Juice
- 1/2 c. + 2 Tbsp. + 2 tsp. Smart Sweet Non-GMO Erythritol Granules, Powdered OR 1/2 c. Smart Sweet Non-GMO Birch Xylitol, Powdered
- 1/4 tsp. + 1/8 tsp. (dash) NuNaturals Pure White Powdered Stevia Extract
- 8 Tbsp. (1 stick) Organic Unsalted Grass Fed Butter
Directions
- Add about an inch of water to the bottom of a medium saucepan. Bring to simmer over medium heat.
- In medium stainless steel bowl, whisk together egg yolk, lemon juice, powdered erythritol or xylitol and stevia.
- Place bowl over sauce pan and whisk constantly for 10 minutes or until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Remove from heat and whisk in butter 1 Tbsp. at a time.
- Pour in glass jar, cover and refrigerate.
- Will be good for 3-4 weeks.
Notes
To powder erythritol or xylitol, add granules to coffee grinder or high-powered blender and pulse until it resembles powdered sugar. Let settle before opening lid. The combined sweeteners (stevia + erythritol or stevia + xylitol) in this recipe is the equivalent of 1 cup of sweetening power. Per 2 Tbsp. 70 calories, 7 g fat, <1 g carb, 0 g fiber, <1 g NET CARBS, 1 g protein.
Ingredients
- 3/4 c. Unblanched Almond Flour
- 2 Tbsp. + 2 1/2 tsp. Smart Sweet Non-GMO Erythritol Granules OR 2 Tbsp. Smart Sweet Non-GMO Birch Xylitol
- 1/16 tsp. (pinch) + 1/32 tsp. (smidgen) NuNaturals Pure White Powdered Stevia Extract
- 2 Tbsp. Unsalted Organic Butter, Melted
- 1/8 tsp. Almond Extract
- 1 Large Organic Egg
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- In small mixing bowl mix together almond flour and sweeteners.
- Add egg, melted butter and extract and mix.
- Roll out dough evenly between two pieces of parchment paper about 1/8 inch thick.
- Using 2 inch square fluted cookie cutter, cut into 24 cookies. Do not separate.
- Lay parchment on top of baking sheet and bake for 18 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Cool completely on rack before separating cookies.
Notes
The combined sweeteners (stevia + erythritol or stevia + xylitol) in this recipe is the equivalent of 1/4 cup of sweetening power. Because the stevia is so concentrated you will need a complete set of measuring spoons. One that includes, dash, pinch and smidgen measurements. If you don't have a square cookie cutter you can also score the rolled dough with a pizza cutter. Per Cookie 30 calories 3 g fat, 1 g carb, 0.5 g fiber, <1 g NET CARBS, 1 g protein
I can’t save the shortbread recipe. It shows up as lemon curd also.
Interesting. I will contact ZipList and see if they have an answer.
Thank you for also giving the Xylitol measurements. I have an unopened container that needs to be used by next month. 🙂
just made these this afternoon. and they are delicious – but mine turned out more like a snickerdoodle texture. the batter was too thin to roll out so I dropped them in teaspoon-sized globs. I’ve gone over the recipe several times, trying to figure out what went wrong, but I’m not seeing it. I probably should have added more almond flour?
What kind of almond flour did you use? Blanched or unblanched? For this recipe I used unblanched almond flour I ground myself.
yes, that’s the first thing I thought of, too. But I used blanched almond flour, which should have resulted in a drier batter rather a wetter one… The grind is course-ish, somewhere between the meal i make myself and the finer flour I buy in boxes.
If you followed the recipe otherwise, then the variable is the almond flour….
This looks so delicious. Thanks for the nutritional data.
I had similar results as the others with too wet/loose dough. I used almond meal/flour not blanched. The flavor is good and if I can get crackers/cookies that look like the ones on Pinterest I’d be very happy. I’ll try adding more almond flour but wonder if I should adjust any other ingredients
Thanks for the recipe. I’ll keep working on it
Are you using storebought or homeground almond flour? I make my own unblanched almond flour and 3/4 c. is approx. 3 oz. on a kitchen scale.
Thanks for your response. It was store bought. I will grind some almonds myself next time I try the recipe.
You could always try again using the weighted measurement to see if that makes a difference.
Do you soak your almonds first?
Not for the shortbread, no.