Meyer Lemon Cream Puffs
This easy recipe makes the most amazing, light, bright and creamy puffs filled with homemade Meyer lemon curd and vanilla whipped cream! Everything is made from scratch and absolutely delicious!
After almost 10 years, our little Meyer lemon tree gave us some beautiful lemons! Since we live in Oregon, this is pretty exciting and maybe not so hard to believe since our weather isn’t exactly citrus worthy. However, the little tree that could made it happen just in time to try out this recipe! I’ve been wanting to try to make cream puffs for quite some time and after obsessively watching the Great British Baking Show and seeing some Instagram pics, the timing was perfect.
Meyer lemons are sweeter and have almost a vanilla-herbal thing going on. They smell AMAZING! It’s hard to describe, but there is a reason why they are a little more expensive at the grocery store. I promise it’s worth it. If you can’t find Meyer lemons or don’t want to wait 10 years for your tree to produce (just kidding, I think we almost killed it, but that’s another story), then you can always just use regular lemons. These will still be yummy…now on to the recipe!
Tips before you get started:
- You will need 2-3 medium-large meyer lemons. They aren’t usually very big, so keep that in mind.
- You will also need to chill the curd for at least an hour, so make it first.
- Plan ahead and pull out your eggs (6), milk and butter ahead of time because they need to be room temperature
- You need 2 pastry bags, one for puffs and one for the whipped cream (if you want it to look pretty). If you don’t have pastry bags, you can always use ziplock bags and cut off one corner.
- Don’t be like me and open the oven door a few times to check on your puffs, they need the heat to get puffy! In fact, leave it closed the whole time.
- Zest your lemons BEFORE your juice them 😉
- For the best whipped cream results, make sure the cream and your bowl are nice and cold before you start whipping. Keep both in the fridge until you are ready to start.
Meyer Lemon Cream Puffs
Ingredients
Meyer Lemon Curd
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 6 tbsp lemon juice
- 6 tbsp sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temp
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, cubed
Cream Puff Batter
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup whole milk
- ½ cup unsalted butter, cubed
- 2 tsp sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup flour
- 4 large eggs, room temp
Whipped Cream
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 5-6 tbsp powdered confectioners sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Lemon Curd
- Whisk together lemon zest, juice, sugar, and eggs in pan on stove.
- Cook over low heat (so you don't cook the eggs!), whisking constantly, until thickened.
- Add butter pieces a few at a time, whisking constantly until melted in.
- Keep whisking until curd is smooth and thickened, and coats the back of a spoon.
- Strain lemon curd through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl.
- Put plastic wrap directly on the top of the lemon curd so a film doesn't form on top (see picture below). Chill in fridge until cold, at least 1 hour.
Cream Puff Pastry
- Preheat oven to 425 and line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper. This recipe makes about 24 puffs.
- Add water, milk, butter, sugar, and salt to a pan on the stove and mix over medium to high heat. Bring to a boil and then remove from heat.
- Add flour and quickly stir into mixture. It really starts to form more a dough at this point.
- Return pan back to the stove top on medium heat and stir constantly for a few minutes, cooking until mixture pulls away from the pan and a film forms on the bottom of the pan. This happened pretty quickly for me.
- Transfer the dough to a mixer or bowl and beat on low speed for 3-4 minutes until cooled.
- Add eggs one at a time and beat on medium speed until each is fully mixed in. Mix until shiny and almost ribbon like.
- Place dough in a pastry bag with a round tip. Pipe round circles spaced at least 1 inch apart on parchment paper. Since this was the first time I did this, I guessed a little. The puffs that came out the best were the ones that I did a second layer on top so they were a little higher and could rise (see photo). Try not to pull up and leave a peak, but you can smooth down with your finger if needed.
- Place one baking sheet at a time in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
- Lower oven temperature to 375 and continue baking for another 5-10 minutes, until golden and airy. Keep an eye on them because they brown quickly!
- Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
- Repeat steps 8-10 for the other baking sheet and make sure your oven heats back up to 425 to before the second pan goes in.
Whipped Cream
- Put heavy cream into mixer and begin whipping at medium speed.
- Add powdered sugar and continue to whip on medium speed.
- Add vanilla and whip the cream on medium-high speed until nice and fluffy.
Assembly
Once your puffs have cooled, cut them open with a serrated knife. Try to only cut them about halfway so the filling won’t spill out when you bite into it (this may have been a lesson I quickly learned). Your puffs should be nice and airy inside with some nice holes to work with.
At first, I placed a dollop of curd and swirled some whipped cream inside from a pastry bag. It worked fine but I really wanted to get equal amounts of whipped cream and lemon curd in each bite. So, I filled my pastry bag with half whipped cream and half lemon curd. It worked perfectly, like a swirl of frozen yogurt with two flavors. Yum!!
Sprinkle with a little powdered sugar and you are in business.
Honestly, I was surprised at how easy these were to make. The puff recipe is basically the base for other pastries like éclairs and profiteroles. So if you are craving a filled baked treat, you can now take your pick!
Did you try this recipe?!? Tag me on Instagram @emilyfabulous_blog!