Bring a bit of sunshine into the house, in spring, summer, or even in the middle of a gray, New England winter day. Homey, from-scratch Lemon Cream Puffs feature a light choux pastry shell and silky lemon cream.
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Who loves cream puffs?
I suddenly find myself shouting, "Me, me, me!" And I hope that you are also shouting, "Me, me, me!!" Because if you are, you will find these to be very tasty treats: Cream Puffs with Lemon Pastry Cream.
The pastry used to make the lemon puffs recipe is a choux pastry. (That's the same type I use for savory and cheesy Gougères.) The baked and cooled choux puffs are filled with a citrusy, lemon-flavored pastry cream.
Serve these little easy lemon cream puffs chilled; they're cool, creamy, and full of bright flavor! A lovely dessert any time of the year, they bring a little elegance to the table.
In a nutshell... 🐿️
- What this is: Light-as-air choux pastry shells flavored with fresh lemon, and filled with a bright and lemony pastry cream. They're like little bites of New England sunshine —and that's especially nice in winter when we need some extra sunshine!
- You'll love this part: They seem like fancy treats, but cream puffs are a surprisingly doable recipe. Make these lemony treats for special get-togethers in spring and summer, or as a bright dessert for your family during the gray days of winter.
- How it's made: Cook the lemon-infused choux dough in the stovetop before baking it into golden puffs. Make the custardy cream in a saucepan with eggs, sugar, lemon, and cream. Then, fill the puffs with the chilled pastry cream.
Jump to:
Are cream puffs hard to make?
I do understand why you might assume that cream puffs must be a bear to make. They're a French pastry—many French pastries are pretty complex. And, cream puffs are often to be found in fancy bakery pastry cases. Heck, they even look pretty fancy!
Also contributing to this assumption is the fact that there are a few brands of cream puffs sold in the freezer aisle at stores, fully baked, filled, and frozen. I think a lot of times, when folks see certain treats premade in the freezer or cold case (like pie crust, quiche, and whipped cream), they assume this means the treats are too time-consuming or tricky to make from scratch.
The truth is, cream puffs are more straight-forward to make than you think. They have two parts: a choux pastry puff and pastry cream filling.
The puff is made from choux (pronounced "SHOO") pastry. This is why cream puffs are also known as choux buns; profiteroles is another name they go by.
What's unique about choux pastry is that it's started on the stovetop. Butter, simmering water, and flour are stirred together in a saucepan until they transform into a dough that looks like mashed potatoes. This dough then goes into a mixer where it's combined with eggs.
The choux dough is spooned or piped onto a baking sheet. (You can make rounds for cream puffs or pipe long fingers of dough to make éclairs.) Bake until the dough is puffed up and has a crisp outer shell. That's not too hard at all!
In this recipe, the cream puff filling is lemon pastry cream. Pastry cream is also made on the stove top with egg yolks, cream, sugar, and any flavorings you want. They're simmered together until they turn into a pudding or custard-like mixture that's then chilled. You do have to whisk it a whole bunch, but other than that, it's a very doable filling.
And of course, there are other fillings to try inside choux puffs if you're not interested in pastry cream—such as whipped cream, ice cream, chocolate ganache, or even savory fillings like chicken salad!
So please do not fret about making creme puffs from scratch, because—you got this! Yahoo for choux!
Why these are the best Lemon Cream Puffs
One thing you'll love is that these cream-filled choux puffs are loaded with lemon flavor. That makes them a versatile little dessert, one to celebrate the sunshine of spring and summer, or to bring a little sunshine to the gray, cold days of winter.
My choux pastry recipe has a touch of fresh lemon zest and lemon juice, which gives the baked cream puff shells a light, lemony taste. The pastry cream, a sweet custard cooked on the stovetop, also has lots of fresh lemon flavor plus a little vanilla. Lemon and vanilla, in my opinion, are a dynamic duo of the dessert world!
If you haven't tried making your own choux pastry, you'll be surprised at how straight-forward it is. The dough comes together quickly. And scoops of the dough transform into light, crisp puffs once they hit the heat of the oven. They're fun to watch puff up!
Make Cream Puffs with Lemon choux cream for your next brunch or wedding shower, or as a decadent little treat to enjoy at home.
Lemon love!
Lemon Lavender Icebox Pie
A creamy, no-bake pie served in a cookie crust.
🔪 How to make Cream Puffs with Lemon Pastry Cream
Ingredients:
- Eggs: Eggs and egg yolks are used in the choux lemon pastry recipe and the lemon filling for the cream puffs.
- Sugar: We use two kinds here—granulated sugar in the lemon pastry cream recipe and powdered sugar to dust the cream puffs.
- Flour: Use all-purpose flour; my go-to brand is King Arthur Baking.
- Half-and-half: A blend of cream and milk, half-and-half makes a rich lemon cream filling.
- Lemons: Pick up two lemons; you'll use both the juice and the zest to flavor this dessert.
- Vanilla extract: You only need a little here, but it's always worth it to use a quality brand, like Nielsen-Massey.
- Butter: Use a good, unsalted butter for the choux pastry—Cabot, Vermont Creamery, Kate's of Maine, and Kerrygold are fine choices.
- Salt: Just a little salt in the puffs enhances the overall flavor.
Make the pastry cream
Whisk together egg yolks, sugar, and flour in a large saucepan. Heat half-and-half in a separate saucepan. Slowly add the heated half-and-half to the egg yolk mixture and cook until it thickens.
Add lemon juice, zest, and vanilla, then pop the lemon pastry cream into the fridge to chill.
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Make the choux pastry
Whisk together butter, water, and salt in a large saucepan and bring it to a boil. Whisk in flour and cook until the dough looks smooth and thick.
Transfer it to a stand mixer bowl and beat in the eggs. Mix until the dough looks shiny and smooth, then mix in the lemon juice and zest.
Bake the puffs
Scoop the dough onto a lined baking sheet. Bake the puffs until they're puffed and lightly browned.
Cool them completely.
Fill the puffs
Slice the puffs in half. Spoon the lemon creme onto the bottom halves. Place the puff tops on the filling and dust with powdered sugar.
Lemon Cream Puffs FAQs
To get light and fluffy pastry puffs, remember NOT to open the door when they're baking. The rush of cool air and escaping steam will make the choux puffs deflate. Also, let the baked puffs cool on the oven rack, with the oven turned off and the door ajar. This helps the outside of the puffs stay crisp as they cool, which will help them keep their light shape.
The filled cream puffs should be covered with food wrap on a plate or transferred to an airtight container. Keep them refrigerated. For the best texture in the puffs, enjoy them within two to three days.
The choux pastry shells can be frozen (without the filling.) Transfer them to a tightly sealed freezer container and freeze them for up to two months. Allow them to thaw in the fridge overnight before slicing and filling.
It's best not to freeze the pastry cream; when thawed after freezing, the cream has a tendency to separate and lose it's silky texture.
Yes, there are a few ways to make cream puffs in advance. You can seal the filled and assembled cream puffs in an airtight container and hold them in the fridge for up to three days. Serve them cold. Or, store the cream puff shells and lemon pastry cream separately, the cream in the fridge and the shells in a sealed container at room temperature, for a couple of days. Then fill them the day you want to serve them.
Tips:
- When making the pastry cream, just remember to add the heated half-and-half very slowly to the egg mixture while whisking constantly. This allows the eggs and cream to combine smoothly, and helps prevent bits of cooked from forming. It's a deliciously smooth and creamy filling for the puffs.
- If you think there may be some bits of cooked egg in the pastry cream, don't worry: just press the pastry cream through a fine mesh strainer to remove them.
- If the baked choux puffs seem to deflate a little, don't worry about: they're still a delicious vehicle for the lemon pastry cream.
The Cream Puffs recipe with Lemon Pastry Cream is below! Here are more lemony recipes for you:
💬 Did you make and devour this recipe? Leave a comment below.
📖 Recipe
Lemon Cream Puffs
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Ingredients
For the pastry cream:
- 6 large egg yolks, room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups half-and-half (8 ounces)
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest (from roughly 1 lemon)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the puffs:
- ½ cup butter, unsalted
- 1¼ cups water (10 ounces)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest (from roughly 1 lemon)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- confectioners' sugar (for dusting)
Instructions
Make the pastry cream:
- In a large saucepan whisk together the 6 large egg yolks, room temperature, ½ cup granulated sugar, and the 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour. It should be a smooth mixture. Hold this aside.
- In a separate small saucepan heat the 2 cups half-and-half over medium heat, stirring it frequently just until it comes to a simmer.
- Pouring very slowly (so as not to cook the egg), pour half of the hot half-and-half over the egg mixture, whisking rapidly. Keep whisking until the mixture is smooth. Slowly pour in the rest of the half-and-half; whisk it in.
- Place this mixture over medium heat; cook and whisk it constantly for 3 minutes—as the mixture heats up, it will thicken.
- Once it has thickened to the texture of loose pudding, whisk and cook the mixture for 2 minutes longer. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Stir in the 2 tablespoons lemon zest , 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract. This is your pastry cream.
- Transfer the pastry cream to a shallow metal or glass pan. (This helps it cool down faster.)
- Allow the pastry cream to cool to room temperature. Press a piece of plastic wrap to the surface of the cream, then refrigerate it until it's cold—about 1 hour.
Make the choux pastry dough:
- Preheat the oven to 425° F. Have ready a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Slice the ½ cup butter, unsalted into small pieces and place them in a medium saucepan. Add in the 1¼ cups water and ½ teaspoon salt. Heat everything over medium-high heat, until the water comes to a boil and the butter is melted. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Stir in the 1¼ cups all-purpose flour into the water-butter liquid, until no dry flour remains. Return the pan to the burner over medium heat.
- Use a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to stir the flour mixture constantly over the heat—it will pull away from the sides and begin to form a sticky lump of dough.
- Keep stirring the dough for about 3 to 4 minutes. (The bottom of the pan will get covered with a floury film which is normal.)
- Transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Mix the dough on low for 3 to 4 minutes to cool it enough to touch.
- For the 4 large eggs, room temperature, beat one egg at a time into the dough, mixing thoroughly and scraping the sides of the bowl before adding the next. Once all of the eggs are in, the dough should look shiny and smooth. Finally, mix in the 2 tablespoons lemon zest and 1 tablespoon lemon juice.
Make the choux puffs:
- Use a medium 2-tablespoon-sized cookie scoop to scoop balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart.
- Use your finger dipped in cold water to smooth the tops of each dough ball.
- Slide the pan into the oven and bake the puffs for 10 minutes. Then, reduce the oven temperature to 350° F. (Do not open the door.)
- Bake the puffs for another 15 to 20 minutes—Don't open the oven; instead, turn on the oven light and look through the door: the puffs are done when they're golden brown on top and very puffed.
- Now, turn off the oven and leave the oven door partially opened. Leave the sheet of choux puffs inside the oven and let them cool on the rack for 20 minutes. (This helps keep them crisp.)
- (Leaving them in the oven allows the puffs to cool down gradually, while staying crisp and puffed up.)
- Take the choux puffs out of the oven and allow them to finish cooling.
Fill the choux puffs with cream:
- Use a sharp knife to slice the cooled choux puffs in half to create tops and bottoms.
- Spoon about 1 tablespoon of chilled pastry cream into each puff bottom. Or, spoon the pastry cream into a piping bag with large, round tip, and pipe the cream onto the shell.
- Place the tops on all the puffs. Dust them with confectioners' sugar.
- Serve the Lemon Cream Puffs immediately. Or, transfer them to a tightly covered container and store them in the fridge until you need them. Then, serve them cold.
- Leftover Lemon Cream Puffs can be kept tightly covered and refrigerated for about 4 days.
- Makes 22 to 23 cream puffs.
Notes
- When making the pastry cream, just remember to add the heated half-and-half very slowly to the egg mixture while whisking constantly. This allows the eggs and cream to combine smoothly, and helps prevent bits of cooked from forming. It's a deliciously smooth and creamy filling for the puffs.
- If you think there may be some bits of cooked egg in the pastry cream, don't worry: just press the pastry cream through a fine mesh strainer to remove them.
- If the baked choux puffs seem to deflate a little, don't worry about: they're still a delicious vehicle for the lemon pastry cream.
- The pastry cream is adapted from the recipe in The Dessert Bible by Christopher Kimball.
Nutrition
Jill says
Don't understand what half and half is.
Nancy Mock says
Hi Jill, half and half is a mixture of milk and cream. You can substitute half whole milk and half light cream for the half and half in this recipe. I appreciate you reaching out!