Lemon cream éclairs

Do you remember my complaining about the eggy smell on my profiteroles? As I wrote on that post, I tried adding vanilla extract to choux pastry and I think it worked well!

Since I’d already made profiteroles, I used the pastry to make éclairs this time – and you can blame the lemon filling on me. ;)

Lemon cream éclairs
from Australian Gourmet Traveller

Choux pastry:
½ cup (120ml) water
3 ½ tablespoons (50g) unsalted butter
½ cup + ½ tablespoon (75g) all purpose flour
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:
½ cup (120ml) whipping cream, chilled
½ cup lemon curd*
icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Place the water and butter in a medium saucepan over high heat and cook until butter is melted and the mixture is boiling. Add the flour and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Cook, stirring over low heat, until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan. Remove from heat and place in an electric mixer. Gradually add the eggs, beating well between each addition, until well combined – you might not need to add all the third egg - lightly beat the last egg and add it gradually to the mixture. Add the vanilla and mix well.
Spoon the mixture into a piping bag with a 1cm plain nozzle. Pipe 5cm (2in) lengths onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until puffed and deep golden. Cool on wire racks. Carefully peel off each éclair from the baking paper.
Place cream in a medium bowl and whip until firm peaks form. Gently fold in the lemon curd. Transfer the mixture to a piping bag with a small nozzle.
Cut the éclairs in half horizontally and fill with the lemon cream. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

* 1/3 of the lemon curd recipe on this post yields ½ cup – the only thing I did differently was adding finely grated lemon zest after passing the curd through a sieve

Makes about 40