There are not many things better in the world than a refreshing fruit dessert, especially in the heat of the summer. I had a very lovely blackberry lime cheesecake at a friend’s house about a year ago, and I never stopped thinking about that flavor combination. I knew I wanted to make something with it that was less indulgent than a cheesecake but would still satisfy my sweet tooth. That’s when I came up with these, Blackberry Lime Cream Puffs.
I love cream puffs for all days and seasons in the year because they are so customizable. I can make a rich chocolate cream and dip the tops in caramel during the winter, and in the summer, I can make this light, fluffy, fruit cream and top with a few specks of lime zest. Cream puffs are so versatile, and I think they’ll become a favorite of yours too! They’re a little weird to get used to making, but if you read the steps below and follow the recipe, they should turn out beautifully!
What the heck is Pâte à Choux?
If you watch a lot of baking shows like me (Great British Baking Show anybody?!), then I am sure you have come across the term “choux pastry” before. For you non-native french speakers like me, “choux” sounds phonetically like “shoo”. It is a pastry where the dough is actually cooked over the stove before it is baked. The dough is also very rich in eggs; this recipe calls for four eggs and only 1 cup of flour. The reason the choux pastry is cooked first is to help make the flour gelatinous. Like how a roux thickens over heat with the addition of flour, so will your dough. The hot dough will lose some elasticity because the heat will denature some gluten. Denaturing gluten yields a dough that is light instead of bready. Something I learned as I was doing some research is that Pâte means “paste” and Choux means “cabbage”. So, literally translated, the dough is called cabbage “paste”. This totally makes sense seeing as the dough is actually a paste and the little profiteroles (cream puff shells) do look like tiny heads of cabbages once cooked!
How does Choux pastry rise?
The coolest part about choux pastry is that it’s only leavener is air! When you make the dough, you will be able to see and feel how gelatinous and unique the dough is. As the dough bakes in the very hot oven, the outside cooks very quickly in the first couple of minutes. It is able to cook so quickly due to the high amount of eggs in the dough. This cooked outer shell leaves the inside still very wet and under-cooked. As the cooking continues, the inside begins to release steam and starts to give rise to the dough. The steam gives rise by pushing its way out of the crevices in the dough, puffing the outer shell as it struggles to get free. Since the outside is already basically solid and cooked through, the inside steam and dough has no place to go but to try to push itself outward in an attempt to expand. This outward push leaves the inside of the puff hollow, with all of the dough now making up the sides.
After baking, you are left with an empty profiterole shell. The opportunities are endless, but you have to decide what to put inside. For me, I think these Blackberry Lime Cream Puffs are the way to go. The cream is tangy and light. It will make you want to hang on to summer forever. Trust me with this filling, and you won’t be disappointed, I promise.
Blackberry Lime Cream Puffs
Ingredients
For the Cream Puff:
- ½ cup Unsalted Butter
- 1 cup Water
- 1 cup All-Purpose Flour
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 4 Eggs
For the Filling:
- 4 ounces Cream Cheese (room temperature)
- ⅓ cup Powdered Sugar
- ¾ tablespoon Lime Zest
- 1 teaspoon Lime Juice
- ¼ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1½ cups Fresh Blackberries
Instructions
For the Cream Puffs:
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- In a large pot on the stove, bring the water and butter to a boil.
- Once boiling, stir in the salt.
- After the salt is stirred in and dissolved, add the flour and stir together with a wooden spoon until it forms a large, gelatinous ball.
- Transfer the hot dough ball to a clean large mixing bowl. Allow to cool for 2 minutes.
- Add your eggs one at a time, stirring by hand with the wooden spoon to fully incorporate the egg into the dough. Once the first egg is completely incorporated, add the second and repeat the stirring process. For the first half of stirring, the dough will look separated and like there is no hope, but keep stirring, and I promise the dough will come together.
- Once all of the eggs have been added in, transfer the dough to a piping bag.
- On a parchment lined baking sheet, pipe tablespoon sized dollops of dough. If you do not have a piping bag, you can use a spoon to drop the dough on.
- Bake the cream puffs until golden brown, 20-25 minutes.
- Allow cream puffs to cool and then either split them in half and sandwich the filling between the halves (like in my pictures), or use a pastry bag to pipe the filling inside of them.
For the Blackberry Lime Cream:
- In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar, lime zest, lime juice, and vanilla with a hand mixer until smooth.
- While mixing, slowly pour in the heavy whipping cream and whip until the cream can hold a stiff peak.
- Add the blackberries and mix in until most are broken down and only a few chunks remain.
- Add the filling to your cream puffs, top with a bit more lime zest and powdered sugar, and enjoy!
Follow me on Instagram @BAKINGWITHLEMON and hashtag your posts #BAKINGWITHLEMON if you make one of my recipes! I adore seeing you guys get creative with baking!
This looks amazing! Will definitely recommend to my fellow bakers! I love your site!
You are so kind! Thank you so much!
My filling came out very runny, how can I fix this?
Hi Yvonne, sorry for the late response. You’ll want to make sure to keep whipping until you reach a thick consistency. The heavy whipping cream in the filling is what will determine how “stiff” or runny the filling is. If you notice it being runny, continue whipping so the cream thickens until it reaches the “stiff peaks” consistency!