Name: Pastry Cream
Yield: Yield 3 cups
Ingredients: 8 large egg yolks; 2 tablespoons sweet butter; One 4-inch piece vanilla bean; ½ cup sugar; Pinch salt; ¼ cup heavy (whipping) cream; 3 tablespoons cornstarch; 2½ cups milk

Preparation info

Yield
3 cups

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Stars Desserts

By Emily Luchetti

Published 1993

About

Be sure always to cook pastry cream over medium low heat so that it doesn’t become overcooked or grainy.

Note the variations for other flavored pastry creams.

Ingredients

8 large egg yolks
½ cup sugar
Pinch salt
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Method

Place the egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk until well blended. Stir in the cornstarch.

Put the milk and vanilla bean in a heavy-bottomed nonreactive pot. Scald the milk and then by hand whisk it slowly into the egg and sugar mixture, removing the vanilla bean.

Transfer the milk-egg mixture back to the pot and cook it over medium low heat, stirring constantly