Vegan Lemon Curd

When I lived in England, I liked nibbling on Ryvita or Highland oatcakes with butter and lemon curd. Conventional lemon curd is made with butter, eggs, sugar, and lemon juice plus rind – vegetarian and gluten-free, obviously, but nowhere near vegan. This luscious concoction is easy to make, well worth the effort, and tastes like ordinary lemon curd over cream cheese. Gotta’ love that cashew cream! This mixture can also be used for lemon tarts, lemon meringue pie, or Murphy’s Lemon Curd Ice Cream.

Ingredients:

1 cup cashew cream
¼ cup plant milk – I like a mixture of cashew and almond milk, or coconut+almond
¼ cup maple syrup (or agave syrup)
¼ cup lemon juice (about two lemons’ worth)
3 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp lemon zest (also about two lemons’ worth)
1/8 tsp turmeric

Method:

1.   First, make the cashew cream: soak one cup raw cashews for an hour. Rinse and drain the cashews; place in a Nutri-Bullet or food processor, and process at high speed until mixture is perfectly smooth. Measure out one cup and set the rest aside for some other recipe. (With the addition of mustard and tomato paste, cashew cream makes a great béchamel!)

2.   Whisk together the cornstarch and the plant milk until well-blended.

3.   In a small saucepan, combine the lemon juice, maple (or agave) syrup, and turmeric. Heat over a low flame; stirring constantly, add the cashew cream.

4.   Once hot, add the cornstarch mixture; keep cooking over a low flame, stirring, until the mixture starts to thicken. Whisk constantly to avoid lumps.

5.   When about the consistency of heavy cream, remove from the heat and stir in the lemon zest.

6.   While still warm, pour into a clean glass jar; cover and allow to cool.

This lemon curd will last for 2-3 weeks if stored in the fridge.

This is also available as a printable .pdf file.