one bite wonders!  delicate cream puffs filled with fluffy lemon mascarpone cream filling

These are fabulous little puffs of melt-in-your-mouth pastry, with an amaaaazing refreshing lemon filling. The bright lemon flavor is perfect for spring, and just a wee bit different than your usual pastry cream.

Not only are these puffs delish, they’re super simple to make. In fact, they’re called simple pate a choux over at Steamy Kitchen, where I found this recipe. You can make them sweet (add a couple teaspoons of sugar) or savory (just salt), depending on the type of filling you plan to use.  These puffs also freeze beautifully, so you can keep them on hand for last minute desserts or mini sandwiches.

For the filling, rich mascarpone cheese is whipped until it’s fluffy, then is combined with lemon curd (I cheated and used ready made).  Fold in some chantilly cream, and you have an incredibly light and luscious filling.

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Lemon Mascarpone Whipped Cream Filling
1 cup heavy whipping cream (organic preferred)
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder
8 ounces mascarpone, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup lemon curd – recommended:  an all natural brand like Simplify


In your stand mixer, with a whisk attachment, beat the cream with the vanilla powder and powdered sugar until firm peaks form.  Set aside. In your stand mixer, again with a wire whisk, beat mascarpone on high speed until light and fluffy.  Add superfine sugar and lemon curd, and whip until light.  Fold whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture just until incorporated. Cover filling and place in refrigerator while you prepare puffs for filling.


Assembly
With the tip of a sharp paring knife, make a small hole in the bottom of each cream puff.  Fill a pastry bag with the cream filling, using a tip that is slightly larger than the holes you made in the puffs.  This will keep the filling from deflating.  Gently squeeze filling into holes, gradually pulling pastry tip out as the cream puff fills and expands – this will help keep the filling from busting out of the sides.  Dust cream puffs with powdered sugar and serve.  I had intended to top these also with a bit of candied lemon peel for a little extra lemony punch, but alas, didn’t get it made before posting this pic.  These are best when served right away, but you can store them up to 1 day ahead, covered, in the refrigerator.


If you want to freeze the plain cream puffs ahead of time, place them in a single layer in a ziploc bag and squeeze all of the air out of it before sealing.  Then pop into the freezer until solid.  They’ll keep for up to a month, and when you’re ready to use them, pull them out about ten minutes before you fill them.

Cookies are made of butter and love  ~ Norwegian  Proverb