[JonK]

I admit it. If I'm going to have trouble with anything, it's gonna be a custard, even a disguised one. We tried making a Raspberry Curd, which the recipe author said was suitable as a tart filling, and it failed to firm up after hours in the refrigerator. In abbreviated form, here's the recipe:

1-1/2 cups raspberry puree, seeded
1/2 cup sugar (about)
4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tsp lemon juice or to taste
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
Sugar and butter are dissolved in the heated puree and tartness adjusted with lemon juice. The eggs and yolks are wisked, tempered by adding some of the hot puree, and then returned to the pan. The mixture is cooked over low heat, stirring until thick, to a temperature of 170 degrees F.

That's what we did. Poured it into our pecan crust, and refrigerated. (The plan was to top slices with whipped cream and finely chopped toasted pecans.) Though it tasted just fine, the curd did not set well enough to hold its shape when slices were cut.

Any suggestions for next time (I prefer not to use cornstarch in fillings of this sort)?

(Curd recipe at www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/berrylane/rascurd.htm)

[markdavis6]

Make sure you just mix the eggs. Do not whip them.

Make sure the temp. does not go over 185 degrees.

You could add additional egg, either whole or yolks. A simple rule for custards is two eggs for every cup of liquid. Your liquid is very thin so by adding more egg that should help.

[Andrew563]

I think you have too much rapsberry puree for the amount of custard. One and a half cups is way too much. Try cutting down on the amount and increasing the amount of custard base.

[JonK]

Thanks to both respondents. We tried some of markdavis6's suggestions on a second batch (and before we saw Andrew563's post), but it still failed to set. We will try again with more eggs, though we had thought that two eggs plus two yolks met the general rule of thumb for custards. Thanks again and Happy New Year.

[panini]

JonK,
I've been watching this. I was wondering if you are making the puree or using a prepared item?
pan

[Suzanne]

I just checked a couple of lemon curd recipes, and I agree with Andrew. The one in Fanny Farmer calls for 6 to 7 tablespoons of lemon juice (less than 1/2 cup) to 1 cup of sugar, 8 tablespoons of butter, and 4 whole eggs. Other recipes have different proportions, but in all cases it would make that amount of puree way too much.

I looked at the recipe via the link, and I can't imagine that it's correct: can you really get 1 1/2 cups of strained puree out of 3 half-pints of whole fruit? I doubt it. Maybe 1 cup at most? Anyone know for sure?

And let this be a warning: a recipe may be up on a website, but that doesn't mean it's been tested and will WORK. I see it all the time with recipes in manuscripts, too.

[JonK]

Thank you Suzanne and panini. The raspberry puree is from raspberries we grew and froze. It's possible that the freezing process breaks down the fruit pulp sufficiently so that after straining off seeds one gets more puree than one would get from fresh fruit.

We're not likely to make another batch very soon, but when we do we will increase the ratio of of eggs to fruit.

(We used the same puree in our raspberry ginger ice cream which was the subject of an earlier post, my first to this group. The ice cream--an experiment in combining flavors--turned out great after we solved the problems of ginger and dairy.)

Thanks again to all who offered suggestions. This is a great group.