Pastry Cream

Making pastry cream is one of the basic techniques that anyone involved with cooking (pastry shop or otherwise) should master, because pastry cream has so many applications. In an emergency, it can be thinned and used as a sauce; it is a base for soufflés; it is a filling and flavoring for cakes and fruit tarts; and it can be used as a topping for Danish or other pastries. In the pastry kitchen, a supply of pastry cream should always be in the refrigerator.

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