This smooth and creamy pastry cream (créme pâtissière) is perfect for filling tarts, danishes, and other pastries. Its rich texture and velvety consistency make it an essential component for elevating any dessert for bakery-worthy results.
Equipment
- Bowl
- Medium Pot
- Whisk
- Spatula
- Digital Scale or Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
Ingredients
- 250 g whole milk (1 cup)
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- 50 g granulated sugar (approx. ¼ cup)
- 50 g little less than one whole egg
- 12.5 g All Purpose flour (2 tbsp)
- 12.5 g corn starch (2 ¼ tbsp)
- 25 g unsalted butter, cubed (2-3 tbsp)
Instructions
- Heat milk and vanilla in a medium pot over medium-high heat until tiny bubbles appear at the rim of the mixture.
- In a bowl, whisk together your eggs and sugar for one minute.
- Whisk your cornstarch and flour, into your egg/sugar mixture. Whisking for another minute until everything is incorporated.
- Once you milk reaches scalding point, stream in ⅓ of liquid into your egg mixture, whisking constantly. Repeat with another third, whisk, and then the final third, until all is incorporated.
- Rinse your pot with cold water to cool it down and wipe out any residue. Return all of the liquid from the bowl, back to the pot.
- Over medium heat, use a whisk to constantly stir the mixture as it thickens.
- Bring it to a boil and let boil for only one minute stirring continuously so it evenly thickens.
- Remove the pot from the heat and drop in one cube of butter at a time, whisking each in before adding another piece. Repeat until all your butter is added.
- Pour your pastry cream into a bowl and cover the surface of the cream with plastic wrap* before placing in the fridge for a few hours to cool completely.
- Once cooled, it’s ready to use!
Notes
*This is a smaller batch version of créme pâtissèrie, feel free to double as needed.
*Make sure that the entire surface of the cream is cover in plastic wrap. This ensures that no skin forms on your pastry cream as it cools.
*I received this recipe from Chef Ashley during my patisserie course in Scotland.
