Pear Curd

5 from 2 votes

An easy recipe to make a delicious smooth pear curd in the microwave, to enjoy spread on toast, as a cake filling, stirred into yoghurt or in tarts or scones. Makes a single jar.

Course Jam and Curd

Cuisine British

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 7

Total Time 17

Servings

Calories 70kcal

Author Lucy Allen | BakingQueen74

Ingredients

420 g pear flesh 4 to 5 medium-sized Conference pears
1 tbsp lemon juice freshly squeezed
50 g butter
2 large eggs
100 g caster sugar (superfine sugar) superfine sugar

UK Measurements - US Measurements

Instructions

Choose ripe pears, preferably without bruising. Trim, peel and core the pears, and slice into quarters. Squeeze over the juice of half a lemon (1 tbsp) to prevent the pears going brown.
420 g pear flesh, 1 tbsp lemon juice
Puree the pear flesh in a power blender until smooth. I use a power blender and pulse for 20 seconds (this may take longer depending on your blender). Look for an even liquid consistency with no lumps.
Add the caster sugar, butter and eggs. Stir.
50 g butter, 100 g caster sugar (superfine sugar), 2 large eggs
Place the bowl in the microwave and heat on high for 1 minute, then remove and stir well. Repeat 5-6 further times, each time microwaving then stirring/beating well.
The resulting pear curd should be thick and smooth.
Strain the curd through a plastic sieve to remove any small lumps of cooked egg and any gritty texture.
Pour into a sterilised glass jar, put on the lid and refrigerate.
After refrigerating for 3-4 hours or overnight, you’ll find a thick and smooth pear curd with the delicious mellow flavour of fresh pears!
Hint: while heating your curd in the microwave, to check if is cooked enough to thicken up properly, look out for a glossy sheen and check that it coats the back of a spoon. If not, heat it for an additional minute.

Notes

Yield

This recipe will yield one jar of pear curd (450 ml jar size).

Storage

You can store this curd for 1-2 weeks in the fridge, in a clean lidded container.

Lumps

If you can see white specks or lumps in your curd this may be from uneven cooking and whisking, where the egg has formed into lumps. Sieve the curd before transferring it to jars to remove any lumps, as stated in the recipe.

How to tell the curd is ready

If it coats the spoon and has a shiny appearance on the surface then this shows the curd is ready to be jarred up. Remember that curd thickens up further once it has cooled.

Variations

You could also try one of these twists on pear curd:

Pear and ginger - add a teaspoon of ground ginger or crystallised ginger to the pears before pureeing to add a little fiery heat.
Pear and blackberry - add a handful of blackberries to the pears before pureeing.
Pear and caramel - add a couple of tablespoons of caramel sauce (dulce de leche) to the pears before pureeing. Taste and adjust the quantity of caramel to suit your palate!

Nutrition