Pastry Cream

Name: Pastry Cream (Crème Pâtissière)
Prep time: 20 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: Makes about 3 cups
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 2 cups cream, half-and-half, or whole milk; 2 cups cream, half-and-half, or whole milk; 1 vanilla bean or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 1 vanilla bean or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened; ⅔ cup sugar; 2 tablespoons flour; 2 tablespoons cornstarch; Pinch of salt; 3 or 4 egg yolks; 2 cups cream, half-and-half, or whole milk

Crème Pâtissière

Preparation info

Makes about
3 cups

Difficulty
Easy
Ready in
20 min

Appears in

The Best Recipes in the World

By Mark Bittman

Published 2005

About

An elementary ingredient of French pastry. The pastry cream will be predictably richer if you use heavy cream (preferably not ultrapasteurized) but is equally delicious with half-and-half or whole milk.

Ingredients

⅔ cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons

Europe
France
Dessert
Mediterranean
Vegetarian

Method

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar with the flour, cornstarch, and salt. Mix together the yolks and cream. If you’re using a vanilla bean, split it and scrape out the seeds; stir them into the cream mixture.
Stir the cream-egg mixture into the sugar-cornstarch mixture over medium heat; at first, whisk occasionally to eliminate lumps. Then stir almost consta