Miriam Ungerer

Crème Pâtissière

Preparation info
  • Makes about

    2½ cups

    • Difficulty

      Easy

Appears in
Good Cheap Food
Good Cheap Food

By Miriam Ungerer

Published 1973

  • About

This pastry cream is one of the mainstays of French pastry-makers: it goes into mille feuilles and cream puffs, and forms the bottom layer of open fruit tarts and hundreds of other desserts. It has a lavish texture and subtle flavor that packaged dehydrated puddings, good though they are, will never duplicate.

Ingredients

  • 6 egg yolks (freeze the whites for another use)
  • 6 Tbsp. flour
  • ⅓ cup

Method

Beat the egg yolks until light; then beat in the flour and sugar gradually. Scald the milk and pour it in a stream into the egg mixture, whisking rapidly. When it is smooth, put it into the top of a double boiler and cook it over barely bubbling water, stirring constantly. It is done when it is quite thick and absolutely smooth, but it should not be allowed to boil. Beat in the vanilla extract,