Georgina Adamson

There are still plenty of lemons around so make sure you put away some jars of lemon butter for delicious desserts: a filling for a sponge or tart, in a cheesecake, or simply over ice cream. Here’s my basic recipe for Lemon Butter (or curd).

1. Melt 250g unsalted butter in a large heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.

2. Add 3 cups sugar and stir till the sugar is dissolved.

3. Add the grated rind of 6 lemons and the juice of 4, and stir till well combined with the butter sugar mixture.

4. Add 6 well beaten eggs and whisk/beat this mixture till it thickens. This may take half hour (make sure there is still water in the saucepan!)

5. Pour into sterilised jars with lids, and when cool keep in the fridge.

I also like to put down a bottle or two of Limoncello. We’ve put Bhagya’s Limoncello recipe on this page before, but just so you don’t need to look it up …

1. Wash and dry 6-8 lemons and peel the rind off in strips, being careful not to take too much of the white pith. Divide a bottle of vodka into two bottles and stuff the peel down the neck until each bottle is full. Seal and set this aside for a week.

2. After this time make a syrup. Bring 4 cups of water to the boil, add 3 cups sugar. Stir till sugar is dissolved then simmer gently for 10 minutes.

3. When cooled, combine this syrup with the lemon flavoured vodka (discard the peel). Decant into smaller bottles using a funnel, and seal each bottle.

4. Set aside for two weeks (if you can wait that long!). It makes a beautiful summer drink, served well chilled over ice with a touch of tonic. Or a nice gift.

With these two basics you can make one of my signature desserts.