How To Make Pastry Cream
You know that delicious, creamy filling in eclairs, cream puffs and Napoleons? Well, that’s pastry cream, also known as creme patissiere. Pastry cream is a stirred custard, which means that it is cooked directly in a saucepan on the stove. It is made of egg yolks, sugar, milk, vanilla, starch, and sometimes other flavorings. Now, I know it might seem daunting to make your own. I know the idea of buying a box of vanilla pudding mix seems like the best option, but DON’T!… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. I just think you should try and make this from scratch. It’s so much more tastier, creamier, and better than any pudding mix out there. And frankly, it’s pretty damn easy too. Here, take my hand. I’ll show you how to make pastry cream.
The recipe that follows is from one of my favorite baking books, Sherry Yard’s The Secrets Of Baking. She’s been one of my go-to gals while teaching myself how to bake.
First, bring milk, some sugar, and vanilla to a simmer. You could omit the vanilla and steep other flavors with the milk at this point, like earl grey, ginger, coffee, or even saffron. In this photo, I steeped some lemon zest with the vanilla.
While the milk mixture is heating up, whisk egg yolks, cornstarch, salt, and sugar. Whisk constantly otherwise the sugar and egg yolks will form lumps that will never go away. The egg yolk mixture should become thickened and turn a lovely pale yellow before it is combined with the heated milk mixture.
Temper the egg yolk mixture by pouring in 1/2 cup’s worth of the simmered milk mixture. Tempering gently heats the egg yolks, and prevents them from setting.
Whisk vigorously, then pour it into the saucepan containing the remaining milk mixture.
Continue whisking over medium heat for about 2 to 3 minutes. It will quickly thicken up.
Once thickened, strain into a clean bowl.
Add butter and mix until melted. This is also a good time to stir in other flavorings like chopped chocolate, fruits, or other flavored extracts.
If not using right away, cover with parchment paper, or plastic wrap (making sure that the covering is touching the pastry cream) and allow to cool at room temperature. Once fully cooled, refrigerate for up to 3 days.
Here are some examples of when I’ve used this deliciously thickened cream:
Cream Puffs! I made a lemon pastry cream to fill these little beauties.
Princess Cake! This complex cake is made up of layers of whipped cream, jam, genoise cake and pastry cream.
Princess Cake
Berry Tart! Oh, this simple but elegant dessert is made up of a tart shell, pastry cream and fresh berries. One of my favorites!
Berry Tart
- 2 cups (500 ml) Whole Milk
- 1/2 cup (100 g) Sugar, divided
- 1 Vanilla Bean, split and scraped, or 2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
- 3 TBS Cornstarch
- Pinch of Salt
- 5 Large Egg Yolks, chilled
- 1 TBS Unsalted Butter
- In a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat, bring the milk, 1/4 cup of the sugar, vanilla bean and seeds to a simmer.
- In a medium-sized bowl, sift together the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, the cornstarch, and salt. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the egg yolks and whisk until thickened and paler.
- When the milk comes to a simmer, remove from the heat and ladle out 1/2 cup of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Slowly drizzle onto the mixture while whisking. Once the 1/2 cup milk is incorporated into the eggs, pour the entire egg yolk mixture back into the hot milk, whisking constantly. Be sure to scrape all the eggs into the pan with a rubber spatula.
- Immediately begin to rapidly whisk the pastry cream. In less than 1 minute, it will boil and begin to thicken. Continue to whisk for another minute 2 to 3 minutes, or until it has the consistency of pudding. To test the cream for doneness, tilt the saucepan to one side. The cream should pull away from the pan completely. Remove the saucepan from the heat and set aside. Rinse and dry the large bowl.
- Strain the pastry cream through a fine-mesh strainer back into the large bowl. Add the butter, and stir until it is melted and incorporated. If the cream seems grainy, pulse it in a food processor until smooth. The cream is now ready to use, or it can be cooled to room temperature and refrigerated for up to 3 days. To cool the pastry cream quickly, spread it out on a baking sheet lined with plastic film. To prevent a skin from forming as it cools, place a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface.
- Sauce pan
- Whisk
- Rubber spatula
- Parchment paper or plastic wrap
- Fine-mesh strainer
