Light and airy pastry with a touch of lemon flavor and a bright cream filling: Lemon Cream Puffs are a lovely, sunshiney treat!
Who loves cream puffs? It's tempting to shout "Me, me, me!", but actually what I hope is that you are shouting that! Hopefully, that's how you found your way to my Lemon Cream Puffs.
The pastry behind the puffs is a choux pastry, like the one I use for savory and cheesy Gougères. The baked and cooled choux pastry shells get filled with a bright lemon pastry cream.
Serve these little puffs chilled: they're cool, creamy, and full of bright flavor! They're easy to make and elegant, too. They're a lovely dessert any time of the year.
Why you'll love these cream puffs
The choux pastry for these puffs has a touch of fresh lemon zest and juice, giving the baked shells a light, lemony taste.
If you haven't tried making your own choux pastry you will be so surprised at how easy it is. Make the dough on a stovetop and then in a mixer - it comes together so quickly. Scoops of dough go on a baking sheet, and in the oven transform into little puffs. They're easy to make and a lot of fun to watch puff up in the oven!
The pastry cream also cooks on the stovetop and consists of eggs yolks, butter, half & half, and sugar - plus lemon, in this case, becoming a sweet custard.
🔪 How to make this recipe
Step 1: Make the pastry cream
Whisk together egg yolks, sugar, and flour in a large saucepan. Heat half & half in a separate saucepan over medium heat to barely a simmer. Whisking constantly, slowly add the heated half & half to the egg yolk mixture. Whisk the mixture over medium heat for several minutes until it thickens.
Stir in the lemon juice and vanilla, then let the pastry cream cool. Pop the pastry cream into the fridge to chill.
Step 2: Make the dough
Whisk together butter, water, and salt in a large saucepan and bring it to a boil. Whisk in flour and cook it for several minutes until the moisture has cooked away and 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.
Step 3: Scoop and bake the dough
Use a cookie scoop to scoop portions of dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake the puffs for a total of 25-30 minutes until they're puffed and lightly browned. Transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Step 4: Fill the puffs
Slice the tops off of the cooled puffs. Spoon the cream into the bottom halves of the puffs, or use a pastry bag to pipe the cream in. Place the puff tops on the filling and dust the finished cream puffs with confectioner's sugar.
Notes:
- The ingredients are divided under those for the cream and those for the pastry shells, to make the recipe as clear as possible. Some ingredients like lemon juice and eggs are needed for both components, so read the ingredients lists carefully before starting to be sure you have everything.
- The Pastry Cream recipe is adapted from the recipe in The Dessert Bible by Christopher Kimball.
- The pastry cream is not difficult to make as long as you remember to add the heated half & half very slowly to the egg mixture. This allows the mixtures to combine smoothly with no cooked bits of egg. It is a deliciously smooth and creamy filling for the puffs.
- After the puffs come out of the oven pierce the tops just a little with the tip of a sharp paring knife. This piercing allows steam to escape and helps the puffs to stay puffy. Even with this, they will deflate a little, so don't panic. They are still a delicious vehicle for that pastry cream!
The recipe for the Lemon Cream Puffs is below, and here are a few more lemony recipes for you!
💬 Have you tried these cream puffs? Leave a star rating and a comment - just scroll down to the bottom of this post!
📖 Recipe
Lemon Cream Puffs
Ingredients
For the pastry cream:
- 6 large egg yolks
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, unbleached
- 16 fluid ounces half & half (2 cups)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest (from roughly 1 lemon)
For the pastry shells:
- ½ cup butter, unsalted
- 10 fluid ounces water (1¼ cups)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour, unbleached and divided
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest (from roughly 1 lemon)
- Confectioner's sugar for dusting
Instructions
Make the pastry cream:
- In a large saucepan whisk together the egg yolks, the granulated sugar and the 3 tablespoons of flour. It should be a smooth mixture. Hold this aside.
- In a separate small saucepan heat the half & half over medium heat, stirring it frequently just until it comes to a simmer.
- Slowly (so as not to cook the egg) pour half of the hot half & half over the egg mixture, whisking as you do. Whisk until the mixture is smooth. Slowly pour in the rest of the half & half and whisk it in. Place the large saucepan with this mixture over medium heat and whisk it constantly: as the mixture heats up it will thicken. This can take 3-6 minutes depending on your burner.
- Once it has thickened whisk and cook it 2 minutes longer and then remove the pan from the heat.
- Stir 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, the vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of lemon zest into this cream until it's smooth.
- Let the pastry cream cool to room temperature. Press a piece of plastic wrap to the surface of the cream and 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.
- Heat the butter, water and salt In a medium sauce pan 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 remaining 1¼ cups of flour until no dry flour remains. Return the pan to the burner over medium heat.
- Stir the flour mixture constantly: it will quickly pull away from the sides and form a sticky lump of dough. Keep stirring the dough over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes - as the moisture leaves the dough the bottom of the pan will get covered by a film. Don't worry about this or try to scrape it up.
- Transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Mix the dough on low for 3-4 minutes to help it cool down. The dough needs to be cool enough that you can touch it.
- Beat in one egg at a time, mixing thoroughly and scraping the sides of the bowl before adding the next. Once all of the eggs are in, mix in the tablespoon of lemon juice and the 2 tablespoons of zest.
Make the puff shells:
- Use a medium 2-tablespoon sized cookie scoop to scoop balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart.
- Place the sheet in the oven and bake the puff shells for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes reduce the oven temperature to 350° F (without opening the door.) Bake the puffs for another 15-20 minutes: they should be lightly browned on top and the tops should feel sturdy. (Taking them out too early will cause the shells to collapse.)
- Move the sheet of puff shells to a cooling rack and let them sit for 5 minutes - they should be cool enough to handle at this point.
- Use a sharp knife to slice the puffs in half to create tops and bottoms. Allow the tops and bottoms to cool completely.
Assemble the puffs:
- When the pastry cream is chilled, use a spoon or a pastry bag fitted with tip that has a large opening to fill each puff bottom with about a tablespoon of cream. Place the tops on all the puffs and then dust them with the confectioner's sugar.
- Serve the puffs immediately or store them covered in the fridge until you need them. Leftover puffs can be kept covered and refrigerated for about 2 days.
- Makes about 23 cream puffs.
Notes
- The ingredients are divided under those for the cream and those for the pastry shells, to make the recipe as clear as possible. Some ingredients like lemon juice and eggs are needed for both components, so read the ingredients lists carefully before starting to be sure you have everything.
- The Pastry Cream recipe is adapted from the recipe in The Dessert Bible by Christopher Kimball.
- The pastry cream is not difficult to make as long as you remember to add the heated half & half very slowly to the egg mixture. This allows the mixtures to combine smoothly with no cooked bits of egg. It is a deliciously smooth and creamy filling for the puffs.
- After the puffs come out of the oven pierce the tops just a little with the tip of a sharp paring knife. This piercing allows steam to escape and helps the puffs to stay puffy. Even with this, they will deflate a little, so don't panic. They are still a delicious vehicle for that pastry cream!
Jill
Don't understand what half and half is.
Nancy Mock
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!