pastry cream recipe

This silky, perfectly sweet vanilla custard is great for filling eclairs, cream puffs, tarts and just about anything else! 

Pastry Cream

whole milk (473 milliliters)

vanilla bean

sugar (135 grams)

cornstarch (37 grams)

unsalted butter (15 grams, cold)

Cut the vanilla bean lengthwise then use a spoon or knife the scrape the seeds out. Add the milk and vanilla bean to a medium saucepan, heat then place over medium heat and bring to a boil.

Immediately turn off the heat and set aside to infuse for 15 minutes.

In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the cornstarch and whisk vigorously until no lumps remain.

Whisk in 1/4 cup of the hot milk mixture until incorporated. Whisk in the remaining hot milk mixture, reserving the saucepan.

Pour the mixture through a strainer back into the saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and slowly boiling.

Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Let cool slightly. 

Cover with plastic wrap, lightly pressing the plastic against the surface to prevent a skin from forming.

Chill at least 2 hours or until ready to serve. The custard can be made up to 24 hours in advance. Refrigerate until 1 hour before using. I whipped some cream up and folded it into my chilled custard to lighten the filling up, this is now technically called diplomat cream.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HOfrKzZOW0

How to Make Pastry Cream
Full Recipe:  https://preppykitchen.com/vanilla-custard/ 

Pastry cream or vanilla custard is one of my very most favorite things. I love it so much that I make it quite rarely as there is no self-control around if and I will basically inhale the whole bowl if no one is looking. 

It's a silky custard packed with vanilla and it's just sweet enough, not cloying at all. If you want to stretch the batch and mellow the flavor out try folding in some whipped cream. This combination is called diplomat cream. Lighter and you can extend the batch to fill more cream puffs and eclairs. 

Using the corn starch is a bit of a cheat, you can reduce or omit it if you're feeling the brave traditionalist. 

You can fold melted and cooled chocolate into this or add a fruit reduction, so many options!

How to Make Pastry Cream

Vanilla pastry cream, aka crème patissiere, is a thick French custard base for so many desserts. Rich, smooth and pudding-like in texture, pastry cream is used as a filling for tarts and profiteroles and can even be turned into buttercream.

How to make Pastry Cream (Creme Patissiere)

milk

white granulated sugar (or caster sugar)

vanilla extract

cornflour (cornstarch)

egg eggs

Pour 1 ¼ cups of milk into a heavy based saucepan, and add sugar and vanilla, then heat on low-medium heat until steaming, stirring regularly to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/4 cup milk, egg yolks and cornflour until smooth and fully combined.

While whisking, very slowly pour the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture in a slow but steady stream. Don’t pour it too quickly or the heat will scramble the eggs.

Once everything is combined, return the mix to the saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring with a whisk constantly, until it gets very thick and no longer settles into itself when you move it around. This will happen quite quickly after about 5 minutes so it’s important to keep gently whisking increasing intensity as it gets very thick. You will end up with lumpy custard if you don’t.

Swap to a silicone spatula and pass the custard through a strainer into a clean bowl, then press plastic wrap to the surface and allow to cool to room temperature.

My Simple Pastry Cream recipe, or Crème Pâtissière, comes together in no time and can be used to fill eclairs, donuts, cream puffs, &amp; more!

Simple Pastry Cream (Crème Pâtissière)

(480 milliliters) whole milk

vanilla pod ((split lengthwise, seeds scraped out))

sugar

egg yolks ((room temperature))

cornstarch

In a medium saucepan, combine milk, vanilla pod, and seeds and ½  the sugar. Place over medium-low heat until mixture comes to a simmer.

In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, cornstarch, and remaining sugar.

While whisking constantly, slowly pour ⅓ of the hot milk mixture into the egg-yolk mixture, until it has been incorporated. Pour mixture back into the saucepan, and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, for roughly 2-3 minutes or until it thickens.

Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter. Pass the mixture through a sieve to remove the vanilla pod and any lumps.

Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the pastry cream to prevent skin from forming and allow it to cool down before refrigerating for a minimum of 4 hours or up to 4 days. Use to fill cream puffs, profiteroles, or pastry tarts.

Crema Pasticcera is a decadent Italian pastry cream with a hint of vanilla. This recipe makes the perfect topping for pastries and cakes!

Italian Pastry Cream

milk (divided (preferably whole or 2%))

heavy whipping cream

egg yolks (room temperature)

all-purpose flour

salted butter

In a medium saucepan, combine ½ cup milk and 1 cup heavy cream. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until almost boiling (4-5 minutes). When the milk begins to steam, remove from heat. Stir in vanilla extract and set aside.

Whisk together egg yolks in a large bowl until smooth. Whisk remaining ½ cup milk into the egg yolks until combined.  While whisking, slowly sift the flour into the egg/milk, incorporating all of the flour into a smooth mixture.

Whisk the sugar into the egg mixture until combined.

Slowly pour the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. I like to spoon the hot milk into the egg while whisking. Continue adding the hot milk until it has all been incorporated.

Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer back into the saucepan (this will remove any lumps of cooked egg).

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a simmer, about 5 minutes. Simmer for one minute while mixture thickens and then remove from heat.

Transfer pastry cream to a bowl and press a piece of plastic wrap down onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming.

Refrigerate the mixture until completely cooled, about 2-3 hours.

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Top 4 pastry cream recipe recipes from across the web

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Pastry Cream

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Simple Pastry Cream (Crème Pâtissiè...

Italian Pastry Cream

The most viewed pastry cream recipe recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine