Pastry Cream
Pastry Cream
Pastry Cream or Crème Pâtissière is one of the fundamental creams in French pastry.  In a pastry shop, a fresh batch of pastry cream will be made every morning and used in fruit tarts, Éclairs, cream puffs, and napoleons (mille-feuille). In Seven Layers, my Martha’s Vineyard pastry shop, we also used it in the morning pastry Pain aux Raisin, made from croissant dough scraps rolled out and spread with pastry cream and sprinkled with golden raisins.
The recipe below results in a thick pastry cream that is lightened to taste, with softly whipped cream. I use vanilla bean, which not only enhances the flavor, but for some reason seems to enhance the texture as well.
Pastry Cream
| Pastry Cream | # of Servings: 6 |
Ingredients
1 pt (16 fl oz) milk
1 vanilla bean (optional), split and scraped
6 egg yolks
½ cup (3.5 oz / 99 g) sugar
2 tbl (.63 oz / 18 g) all-purpose flour, sifted
2 tbl (.63 oz / 18 g) cornstarch. sifted
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ tbl (.75 oz / 21 g) unsalted butter, softened
Special tools and equipment needed:
- 2 to 3-quart heavy bottomed sauce pan
- Square or rectangular Pyrex or ceramic baking dish1
Pre-recipe preparations:
- Make sure butter is soft
Directions:
- Place milk, sugar, and vanilla bean in heavy bottomed sauce pan. Stir to combine and bring just to the simmer. If using vanilla bean let steep for 10 minutes.
- In medium mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar just to combine, about 1 minute.
- Add sifted flour and cornstarch, gently whisk until homogenous mixture.
- Remove vanilla bean and bring milk back to simmer.
- Temper the egg yolks by slowly whisking about ¼ of the hot milk into the egg yolks to warm them.
- Pour the warmed yolks into the pan with the simmering milk and whisk the mixture continuously while cooking over medium heat. Bring to the boiling point and let boil for 30 seconds, continuing to whisk.
- Remove pan from heat to a heat-proof pad on the counter.
- Add vanilla extract and soft butter, whisk to combine.
- Pour into baking dish, and push a piece of plastic film or parchment paper against the hot pastry cream.2. Poke several slits with sharp knife to let steam escape.
- Refrigerate until totally cold. Use within 3 days.
Notes:
1 Pastry cream needs to chill rapidly, therefore it is important that the hot cream be poured into a shallow dish
2 The plastic film or parchment paper prevent a skin from forming.
