Lemon Cream Puffs
Preheat oven to 425
1 cup water
6 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cup of flour
3 teaspoon sugar
1teaspoon salt
4 whole eggs and 2 whites (save yolks)
In a saucepan, boil water, butter, sugar and salt, add flour slowly and stir with a sturdy spoon or spatula, dough with bw very thick.
Turn off heat if on gas or remove from heat for electric. allow dough to cool enough for you to touch it without discomfort. it helps to spread it out in the pan, you know, surface area and heat distribution.
Transfer dough to the bowl of your mixer.
Start stirring on low with the paddle attachment. Add eggs one at a time or else the dough will slip around in the Bowl instead of mixing.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Take a small disher or normal spoon and drop rounded walnut sized balls onto the sheet about 3 inches apart (you can pipe them out if you want but this is easier ) wet your finger with water and pat down any spikes or cow licks.
Pop into the oven and bake for for about 20 minutes, reduce heat to 350 halfway through bake time . (At 10 minutes )
When time is up, remove from oven and poke a hole in the side of your Puffs to allow steam to vent.
You might need to pop them in the oven after this depending on the temperature and humidity of your kitchen for them to dry.
The filling, it helps to make this first.
3 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup white sugar
2 whole eggs and two yolks
2 tablespoons lemon zest
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed.
Pinch of salt
In a small saucepan pan, mix with a wisk, sugar, lemon juice, zest and eggs until combined then turn on burner to about medium-low heat, stirring frequently. Once mixture thickens a bit, add the butter. Remember to stir.
Gradually raise the heat if necessary and cook until the curd thickens an can hold the marks from the wisk or can coat the back of the spoon.
Remove from heat and let cool all the way.
In a chilled bowl, whip the cream until fluffy.
if you want to stabilize the cream, bloom 2 teaspoons of plain gelatin in a small bowl with 2 tablespoons of water, let sit a few minutes, then microwave for about 10 seconds or until it melts, pour into cream while mixing, before boosting the speed to whip.
Gently fold lemon curd into whipped cream. spoon into zip baggie piping bag with the end snipped off and large piping tip (like a star) attached. Twist the top of the baggie for better pressure. Fill puffs through the steam vent hole. don't over fill and go slow, if there's air in the baggie, you could blow out the puff shell.
You'll probably have extra filling. This is good on graham crackers, shortbread, angel food or sucked out of the bag when nobody's around.