A few weeks ago I posted a question to my Facebook “fans”: what type of chocolate popover would you prefer-spicy chocolate with salted dulce de leche, or chocolate-orange with orange curd? This was for a guest post that I was doing on doughmesstic.com. Spicy chocolate won by a narrow margin, and I promised that I would do the chocolate-orange popovers on my own blog soon.

When I dreamed up the idea of the popovers, I assumed that I would make the orange curd and also tell you where you could buy it if you were not inclined to make it yourself. Guess what? I looked everywhere, and I could NOT find orange curd. I found lemon curd (of course), key lime curd, vanilla curd, and raspberry curd. No orange curd. I even looked online. It appears that Wilkinson (the main brand of curds found in most grocery stores) manufactured an orange curd at some point in time, as I found nutritional information on a nutrition website along with a product photo, but when I checked the Wilkinson website….no go.

Don’t be afraid of this recipe! It may sound daunting, but I promise that it isn’t. The only caveat is that you have to stir it frequently and keep the heat low so that the eggs don’t scramble. It takes a while, but it’s totally worth it. My house smelled so good while I was making this….like a potful of sunshine. And the jars look so pretty! The curd wasn’t quite as thick as what I have bought in a jar before, but still thick enough to use without it running all over the place.

Still, if you don’t want to make it….you’re out of luck on the orange curd. I’m terrible sorry. For some reason, chocolate-lemon popovers sounds pretty bizarre, but chocolate-lime doesn’t…so I would recommend using lime zest in your popovers and finding a jar of key lime curd (which I found at Earth Fare and Fresh Market). Curd is also delicious on ice cream, pound cake, angel food cake, and, I am sure, a plethora of other items.

Popover recipe to come!

Orange Curd

Print recipe

Prep time	15 minutes
Cook time	20 minutes
Total time	35 minutes
Allergy	Egg
Dietary	Vegetarian
Meal type	Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Misc	Serve Cold
From book	adapted from The Joy the Baker Cookbook by Joy Wilson

Ingredients

1/2 cup orange juice (I used freshly squeezed from 2 medium oranges)
zest of one orange (I reserved the zest of the other orange for the popovers)
1/3 cup sugar
2 Large eggs
good pinch salt
4oz unsalted butter

Directions

Step 1
Combine all ingredients except for the butter in a medium saucepan. Cook, whisking frequently, over medium-low heat until the yolks have thickened the sauce. It will go from smelling very "orangey" to taking on more of a cooked smell. The cooking process took about twenty minutes for me.
Step 2
Remove the pan from the heat. Whisk in the butter a tablespoon at a time.
Step 3
Use a rubber spatula to scrape all of the curd from the pan to a fine mesh strainer set over a medium bowl. Use the spatula to push all of the curd through the strainer. This will ensure that any cooked bits of egg do not get into your curd.
Step 4
Store the orange curd in a covered container (I used pint-sized Mason jars).