The deconstruction worked, sort of.

The original recipe for lemon curd:
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
6 tbl butter
Whisk all ingredients over low heat until the first bubbles break. Chill the mixture.

The chewing gum and sticky tape (deconstructed) recipe for vanilla custard (because the tartness of the curd is painful for those people with dental work):
1/2 cup half and half (because I don't normally stock hevy cream)
2 tsp vanilla paste
3/8 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 tbl butter (because I don't want to cut another stick)
Whisk all ingredients over low heat until the first bubbles break. Chill the mixture.

Notes to self:
* Reduce sugar to 1/4 cup or less.
* Reduce vanilla to 1 tsp.
* Possibly increase to 4 eggs or more, depending on whether the intent is a vanilla or an egg tart.
* Possibly increase or eliminate the butter. I can't taste it anyways.

I suppose we could call the vanilla recipe a success, except it is rather sweet and cloying for my taste. It would work well loaded into a prebaked tart shell and garnished with fruit, which was the original intent. As a standalone custard or tart, it's a little much.