What if I told you that in only 20 minutes (including assembly of ingredients), you can have a bowl of puckery, smooth, rich, perfect lemon curd? And that you can have it without separating egg whites and yolks or owning a double boiler?

You will, however, need a whisk, a stainless-steel bowl, and a pot into which your bowl can rest. Make sure there’s enough room between the bottom of the bowl and the bottom of the pot, because you won’t want the simmering water in your pot to touch the bowl. This will scorch your curd and scramble the eggs, and it’s not very tasty-looking when that happens.

OK, fill up your pot with about an inch of water and bring it to a healthy simmer while you dump the following into your stainless-steel bowl:

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (from 4-5 lemons; please don’t use bottled juice!)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Whisk continuously for 12-15 minutes. Think of it as a chance to work your upper arms. It will be sloshy at first as the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. The liquid will continue to be sloshy – you will wonder if you’re doing something wrong, and by minute seven you’ll be frustrated and cursing me.

But watch! By minute eight it will shift from translucent to opaque and bubbles will remain at the edges of the mixture, and by minute ten it will start to thicken and you’ll see the trails of your whisk as it tugs its way around the bowl. By minute thirteen the curd should be fully thickened and you can remove the bowl from the heat. Watch the following video so you’ll know what to look for:

Pour your curd into a jar – you will have about 12 oz. or 1 1/2 cups. The curd will continue to firm up as it cools but I have been known to eat it warm, like a pudding. No shame there.

This recipe is also useful for other citrus, should you want to make a curd trio or a tart filling. I would cut the amount of sugar by half if you’re using a sweeter citrus fruit, like a navel or blood orange, but keep as is for limes or grapefruit.