Skip to Content

Lemon Strawberry Cream Puffs

Lemon Strawberry Cream Puffs

These lemon strawberry cream puffs make the best dessert! Crisp cream puff pastries filled with lemon curd, lemon cream, and strawberries! They’re amazing!

These lemon strawberry cream puffs are so delicious, and so easy to make!

Cream puffs are one of those desserts that a lot of people are intimidated by. They seem fancy and special and way too hard to make at home.

easy cream puffs filled with lemon curd, lemon cream, and fresh strawberries

But they are actually so simple to make. The pastry dough only has a few ingredients, and it mixes up quickly on the stovetop. Then all you have to do is mound or pipe the dough onto a baking sheet and bake.

Don’t get too hung up on making them all the exact same shape and size. They’re delicious either way.

lemon strawberry cream puffs

But I like to use an ice cream scoop to portion out the dough for these large cream puffs as they end up being about the same size that way, and it’s way faster than a piping bag is.

If you have a bunch of peaks and odd looking shapes on the pastry dough you can smooth them down with a little water before baking them.

easy cream puffs filled with lemon curd, lemon cream, and fresh strawberries

Cream puffs are typically filled with pastry cream. I’ll admit, I’m not a huge fan of pastry cream myself, although my kids all love it so I’ll probably make cream puffs filled with it at some point for them. But these strawberry lemon cream puffs are filled with lemon curd, a lemon cream, and sliced strawberries.

They’re also enormous. I know you usually can eat cream puffs by picking them up and digging in, but I will warn you that will be messy with these. Doable, but messy. The kids all did it, I used a fork and knife. Either way, they’re absolutely delicious and you should definitely make them ASAP!

easy lemon strawberry cream puffs

How do you keep cream puff shells crispy?

Cream puff shells do tend to get a bit soggy past the day that they’re made. But you can still make them ahead of time.

If you want to make these lemon strawberry cream puffs ahead of time, you can make all the components separately and keep them in the fridge. Then when you are ready to assemble them, re-crisp the cream puff shells by placing them in a 350F oven for about 5 minutes.

Let the shells cool completely before assembling the cream puffs.

easy cream puffs filled with lemon curd, lemon cream, and fresh strawberries

Why are my cream puffs doughy inside?

Cream puffs can end up doughy inside for two reasons. Either you didn’t bake them long enough, or you didn’t let them dry out.

Bake the cream puffs until a toothpick inserted inside one comes out without any wet batter on it. At this point, you need to make a small slit in the side of each pastry with a sharp knife to allow steam to escape.

Then turn off the oven and prop it open with a wooden spoon, leaving the cream puffs inside for 30-45 minutes to dry.

easy cream puffs filled with lemon curd, lemon cream, and fresh strawberries

How to make Lemon Strawberry Cream Puffs:

  • You can portion out the cream puff dough using an ice cream scoop or a piping bag. Smooth down any peaks on the dough with a bit of water before baking.
  • To keep the insides of the cream puffs from being doughy, you need to poke the baked pastries with a sharp knife, then leave them in a turned off and propped open oven for a half hour to dry out a bit.
  • These cream puffs are best the day they are made, but will keep for up to two days, assembled, in the fridge. You can also keep all the components separate for a day or two before serving. The cream puffs will lose a bit of their crispness though.
  • The recipe looks like a lot of steps, but they are all easy. The lemon curd, lemon cream, and strawberries can all be prepared ahead of time and kept in the fridge.

Here are some more great dessert recipes for you:

lemon strawberry cream puffs
Yield: 12 large cream puffs

Lemon Strawberry Cream Puff Cake

lemon strawberry cream puffs

These lemon strawberry cream puffs make the best dessert! Crisp cream puff pastries filled with lemon curd, lemon cream, and strawberries! They're amazing!

Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

For the lemon curd:

  • 2 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup lemon juice (2 lemons)
  • zest of 2 lemons
  • 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
  • 1 tablespoon heavy cream
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
  • pinch salt

For the cream puffs:

  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 4 large eggs

For the cream filling:

  • 4 ounces (125g) cream cheese, softened
  • 2/3 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the strawberries:

  • 2 cup fresh strawberries, sliced
  • 1 teaspoon granulated sugar

Instructions

For the lemon curd:

  1. In a small bowl, whisk the 2 eggs and one egg yolk together, then whisk in the sugar until combined.  
  2. In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the lemon juice and zest until hot, but not boiling.  
  3. Slowly pour the hot lemon juice into the egg mixture, whisking constantly while pouring.  
  4. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture is thick enough to cling to the back of the spoon, about 3 minutes.  
  5. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter until combined.  
  6. Stir in the cream, vanilla and salt.  
  7. Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a small bowl.  
  8. Cover the lemon curd with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd and refrigerate until ready to use.

For the cream puffs:  

  1. Preheat the oven to 425F.  
  2. In a medium saucepan, bring the water, butter, salt, and sugar to a full rolling boil.  
  3. Add the flour all at once and stir the mixture quickly until it starts to pull away from the sides of the pan.  
  4. Remove the pan from the heat and keep stirring until the mixture is smooth, then allow it to cool for 5 minutes.
  5. Using a handheld electric mixer, add the eggs, one at a time and beat it until it is smooth and shiny.  
  6. Mound the batter on a parchment lined baking sheet, about 2 tablespoons per cream puff, spaced about 2 inches apart. I like to use an ice cream scoop to do this. If there are any peaks on the mounds of batter, you can smooth them with damp fingers.
  7. Bake for 15 minutes, and then reduce the oven temperature to 375F and bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a puff comes out without any wet batter on it.  
  8. Turn the oven off, make a small slit in the sides of each pastry with a sharp knife, prop the door open with a wooden spoon, and allow them to dry in the propped open oven for about 30 minutes.  
  9. Remove the pan from the oven and let the pastries cool completely.

Prepare the cream filling:  

  1. In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the cream cheese until it is smooth.  
  2. Slowly add the powdered sugar, and whip the mixture until it is light and fluffy.  
  3. Add in the heavy cream, lemon zest, and vanilla, and continue whipping until stiff peaks form.  
  4. At this point, if you’re not ready to  assemble the cream puffs, you can keep the prepared cream in a covered bowl in the refrigerator.

For the strawberries:

  1. Toss the strawberries together with the sugar in a bowl and place them in the refrigerator until needed.

Assemble the cream puffs:  

  1. Slice the pastries in half.
  2. Spread about 2 teaspoons of lemon curd over the bottom of each cream puff shell. 
  3. Pipe a swirl of the cream filling over top of the lemon curd. I used a 1M tip for this.
  4. Spoon some sliced strawberries over top of the cream filling.
  5. Put the top half of the pastry on top of the strawberries. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.
  6. The cream puffs are best served immediately, but will keep well, already assembled, in the fridge for 1-2 days.

Notes

Source: Lemon curd recipe from Cook’s Illustrated Baking Book.

Recommended Products

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may receive a small commission from qualifying purchases.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

12

Serving Size:

1 cream puff

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 363Total Fat: 24gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 182mgSodium: 228mgCarbohydrates: 31gFiber: 1gSugar: 18gProtein: 8g

Nutrition Information is estimated based on ingredients used and may not be exact.

Skip to Recipe