Chill the lemon curd tart for several hours before serving or the filling will be too runny. After enough chilling time, the lemon curd will firm up, making it easier to cut through the pie. You can make this tart a day ahead of time.
That is because curd, which is made with milk, sometimes doesn't turn out creamy enough or is too runny. So if you too have been having a hard time making curd, follow these simple tips. *Boil the milk and keep cooking it on low heat until it thickens. Then add the curd culture to the milk and toss it once or twice.
Once the lemon curd thickens and coats the back of a spoon, remove from the heat and strain through a fine mesh strainer. If you don't have a find mesh strainer, that's ok. It isn't always necessary to strain.
How to Fix Your Runny Pie
- 1 – Cornstarch. All it takes is a teaspoon of cornstarch for every cup of fruit that you have in your pie.
- 2 – Flour. This is one of the less-preferred options.
- 3 – Instant Pudding. Instant pudding is actually a favorite among veteran pie makers.
- 4 – Tapioca.
- 5 – Draining the Juices.
If your pie filling is runny, add in one additional tablespoon of cornstarch to the lemon filling, and stir over medium heat. It should thicken in 1 to 2 minutes.
Continue cooking the curd until thickened: Continue to cook the curd, whisking occasionally until it thickens to a pudding-like consistency, about 10 minutes total from the start of cooking. Remove from heat. (The curd will continue to thicken as it cools.)
The Takeaway. If your yogurt doesn't set up properly the first time, try treating the failed “yogurt” like milk, and starting over. (Reheat it, add new starter, and incubate again.) The texture may suffer some, but it can save you having to throw the whole thing away.
Do not add yogurt to hot milk. It will coagulate the milk. Using sour starter will yield a sour dahi. If the milk does not set well, try again with fresh milk in different ways by increasing the culture, keeping it in a warmer place, adding your culture to warmer milk.
TIPS TO THICKEN YOGURT
- HEAT THE MILK LONGER. Heating denatures the proteins in milk and encourages the proteins to coagulate and thicken.
- ADD DRY MILK POWDER.
- STRAIN THE YOGURT.
- INCREASE THE FAT CONTENT.
- ADD A THICKENER.
The lemon meringue filling is thickened with cornstarch. But if you overwork the filling, the cornstarch's thickening abilities are weakened, and you'll be left with a runny mess. To prevent this, you'll cook the filling in two intervals.
Perhaps it just needs to incubate longer. Keep incubating. Bear in mind that once you stir or jostle the milk-plus-starter, you will have to start over again with a new starter. If you don't want to re-incubate, my recommendation is to use the yogurt-milk as is, even if it's not what you originally planned.
Lemon curd is an intensely unhealthy type of topping and spread that should only be eaten rarely, if that. It is heavy in both fat as well as carbohydrates. The calorie content in lemon curd is very high, and this should weigh on your mind significantly before you think of consuming significant quantities of it.
Curd is not thickening – remembering that curd is not meant to be thick like a set custard, it may be that it wasn't cooked long enough (see above). If you still want it thicker, try adding in another egg yolk (making sure to cook it through as per the instructions).
When the mixture gets hot enough, the egg will begin to thicken the sauce and the entire mixture will become thick and frothy, with no layer of liquid on the bottom.
To use cornstarch as your thickener, heat the sweetened lemon mixture until it simmers. Whisk the cornstarch into a small amount of cold water, and stir it briskly into your filling. Within a minute or two, it will thicken. Cornstarch fillings can be baked, but the acidity will make them break down after a day or two.
The reason is that yolks contain an enzyme which liquidifies starch. It doesn't happen outright, but will happen while your tart is cooling. The only way to prevent it is to heat the mix high enough so the enzyme is deactivated.
Pay attention to bake times: one reason you'll often end up with a runny fruit pie is simply that it hasn't been baked long enough. Any thickener you use needs a little time to set up, and people often see their crust turning light brown and think the pie is done when it's really not.
An odorless, colorless, tasteless thickener, gelatin (second from right) is derived from the collagen in animal proteins. It is also an excellent thickener for double-crust pies.
Slowly whisk in Argo® corn starch and milk mixture. Return the custard to the stove and heat over medium-low heat until thickened, about two to three minutes. Once the custard thickens, transfer to a bowl and cool until it's room temperature, about 30 minutes.
Sugar is, technically, a liquid, and too much of it will make the custard runny. In a recipe without starch, one egg yolk will set up to 3.5 ounces of milk or cream, and too much will also make the custard runny.
Our five favorites
| Fruit | Thickener | For one 9" pie (8 cups of fruit) |
|---|
| Apples |
|---|
| Need the least amount of thickener, since they're less juicy. They're also high in natural pectin; pectin helps filling thicken. | Cornstarch | 1 tbsp + 1 tsp |
| Quick-cooking tapioca | 2 tbsp |
| Pie Filling Enhancer | 1/4 cup Reduce sugar by 2 tbsp |
Undercooked pudding is the #1 reason the pie gets soupy. One trick to check the doneness is to coat the back of the spoon with pudding and run your finger right through the middle. If the trail stays separate without running back into the middle, it's done. And no fat-free or skim milk here.
Again, heat first or the granules will fall to the pastry shells and you'll end up with gritty tarts. -- If tarts are too runny for your taste, add an extra egg or two in the next batch to thicken the filling. -- Don't fill pastry shells more than two-thirds full.
The filling will naturally thicken as it cools, especially if you've used any of the above thickening agents. You can always reheat your pie when you're ready to eat it. If letting it cool doesn't give the results you were hoping for, your next option is to stick it back in the oven to bake longer.
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature.
- ¾ cup granulated white sugar.
- ? cup fresh lemon juice.
- 1 tsp cornstarch.
- 1 tbsp lemon zest finely shredded.
- 3 eggs.
Cook on moderate heat, whisking constantly, until mixture becomes thick (mine was ready in 10 minutes). If you have a thermometer, it should register 170F/75C; otherwise, it should coat the back of a wooden spoon and leave a clear pass if you run your finger through it. The curd will thicken more once cooled.
Cornstarch is the main thickening agent in the filling. It activates at boiling temperature, but looses its thickening ability when it's boiled for too long, or at too high temperature. Therefore, we are adding flour along with cornstarch as a backup. Be sure not to overcook the mixture though.
The pie will not need to cool down as much and make the filling firm enough to slice and eat. For example: replace 2 tablespoons of cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of cassava. If making a pie to eat the following day, reduce the amount of thickening.
Lemon pie filling has to be almost so thick you can cut it with a knife before you pour it into the shell or it won't set up. So you cook it until it becomes that thick.
