Lemon blueberry eclairs are the latest variation on the classic French dessert. Of all the desserts I’ve made, anything with pastry cream and choux dough are my favorite to make. Trying new variations on eclairs so that I can eventually open a bakery that only does eclairs. From there I get the TV show, become the Georgetown cupcake of eclairs, and start hosting or being the judge on a cooking show. But for now, we’re still getting all the flavors figured out. Let’s get started with this one!
Preparation Instructions
I’ve already gone through the details on making choux dough in a previous post here. One thing I will say is that using bread flour for the choux dough has been a bit hit or miss for me. I’ve had really good results with it and also some lackluster results. I make my own bread flour using vital wheat gluten. If you need the instructions for that, check out the masterclass link here. I’m not in any type of partnership with masterclass, they just have a really good, succinct article that gives you the ratio. I could probably experiment with protein ratios to get the right consistency. But that’s a bit more technical than I’d like to get. Long story short, try bread flour, but also be consistent when piping the choux dough. I think that’s the more important thing to focus on.
For making the pastry cream, see the post here. I’d say let the pastry cream cook a bit longer than you might otherwise. Mixing in the sour cream will thin it a bit. The last thing you want is a pastry cream that’s too slack and oozes out of the choux. The alternative is to leave the sour cream out entirely if the cream seems a bit loose to begin with. Anyway, once the cream is prepared, mix in the powdered blueberry, transfer to a piping bag, and place in the fridge to chill.
I tried two different variations on blueberry pastry cream. One was simply powdered freeze-dried blueberries. This was the one on the left in the photo below. The other was made using a reduced blueberry drink from Ikea. Obviously the freeze-fried blueberries variation tasted better according to a extensive taste testing I subjected my friends to.
Lemon Blueberry Eclairs Assembly and Icing
Once the pastry cream is chilled, remove from the fridge. Take one of the prepared choux buns and fill with the pastry cream.
For the icing, sift the powdered sugar through a sieve into a large mixing bowl. Add a few tablespoons of lemon juice and whisk to combine until the mixture reaches the desired consistency. Transfer the icing to a pastry bag and cut a 1/4″ hole in the bottom of the bag. Pipe the icing on top of the filled eclairs and sprinkle the powdered blueberry on top. Chill the pistachio eclairs in the fridge for 30 minutes and then serve. Store any leftovers in the fridge and consume them within three days.
Lemon Blueberry Eclairs
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Piping bag and 1-½" french star nozzle
- whisk
- Fine-mesh strainer
- baking tray w/ parchment paper
Ingredients
Pastry Cream Ingredients
- 1 Batch Pastry Cream https://trophyhusbandbakeshop.com/pistachio-pastry-cream/
- 30 grams freeze-dried blueberries, powdered (A little less than 1 package from Trader Joe's)
Icing Ingredients
- 120 grams Powdered Sugar (1 cups)
- 1 gram vanilla extract (dash)
- 2-4 Tbsp Lemon Juice
- 5 grams freeze-dried blueberries, powdered (for topping)
Instructions
Pastry Cream Instructions
- Prepare the pastry cream as described in the recipe linked here:Omit the pistachio extract and prepare the pastry cream as instructed. After pressing the cream through the fine mesh sieve, mix in the powdered freeze-dried blueberries and transfer to the piping bag to chill in the fridge.https://trophyhusbandbakeshop.com/pistachio-pastry-cream/
Pâte à Choux Instructions
- Prepare the choux pastry as described in the recipe linked here:https://trophyhusbandbakeshop.com/choux-pastry-recipe/
- Transfer the mixture to a piping bag with a 1-½" french star tip. Shake the bag a few times to get any air bubbles out and twist the bag to close.
- Place the tip of the piping bag on the parchment paper at a 45 degree angle and without lifting the tip off of the parchment, pipe a 4-5" long log. Twist the tip when you want to stop piping for a clean break. Dip your fingers in water and press the rough edge of the dough back in for a clean end. Repeat for the rest of your eclairs.
- Dust the tops of your eclairs with a bit of powdered sugar or spray them with a bit of cooking spray like pam.
- Bake for 25 minutes at 375. After 25 minutes poke a hole in the ends of all of the eclairs, rotate the trays from the bottom to the top racks and bake for another 5 minutes
- After 5 minutes, turn the oven off and leave the eclairs inside to cool for 15-20 minutes. Prop the oven door open to help them cool slowly. Remove the pastry cream from the fridge so it can start warming up.
- Remove the eclairs from the oven and using a small paring knife, poke three holes in the bottom of each eclair to allow steam to escape and to help with filling later. Let the eclairs cool completely on the baking trays.
- Take the bag of pastry cream and insert the tip into the bottom of one of the eclairs and squeeze the bag to fill. The eclairs should be sufficiently filled but not so much that they're bursting. Repeat with the rest of the eclairs.
Icing Instructions
- Sift the powdered sugar into a large mixing bowl
- Add the vanilla extract and whisk to combine.
- Add a few tablespoons of lemon juice and whisk to combine. Add more lemon juice as necessary to get the right consistency for piping.
- Transfer icing to piping bag and cut 1/4" hole in bottom for piping icing onto eclairs.
- Pipe icing onto eclairs and sprinkle with powdered blueberries. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes and serve. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
