Basic Pastry Cream
Pastry cream is a decadent custard or pudding often used in bakeries and restaurants. It’s actually really easy to make yourself. I love homemade pastry cream and learned to make it when I did my pastry course light years ago. I love a classic vanilla pastry cream, but I usually end up adding a hint of lemon and cinnamon to my version of this delicious cream.
How To Make Pastry Cream
For my version of pastry cream you’ll need milk, sugar, egg yolks, flour, vanilla bean, lemon rind and a cinnamon stick. You can just omit the lemon and cinnamon if you want to make a traditional vanilla cream pastry. Make sure you slice the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds.
Pour the milk in a saucepan and add the vanilla bean and seeds and the cinnamon.
Next, add half of the sugar en bring the milk to a boil. Once it starts to boil, take it off the heat and remove the vanilla bean, lemon rind and cinnamon stick. You can sift it if that’s easier.
Next, mix the egg yolks with the sugar till combined, add the flour and mix to combine again.
Add a little bit of the milk mixture to the egg mixture, a splash or two and mix to combine. Pour the milk back into a pan if you’ve sifted into something else and turn on the heat again. While stirring add the egg mixture to the milk mixture and mix until the cream starts to thicken, about 3-5 minutes.
When the cream has thickened, pour the mixture into a flat dish, I usually pour it into a shallow stainless steel dish, but didn’t have one around at the time.
Cover the pastry cream with plastic wrap, make sure the plastic wrap touches the surface and sticks to the cream, this will prevent a skin forming on the cream. Put the pastry cream in the fridge to chill.
Once chilled you’ll see the pastry cream has thickened some more and it’s ready to use.
Doesn’t this look delicious?? You can use pastry cream as a filling for cream puffs.
| Prep Time | 5 minutes |
| Cook Time | 10 minutes |
| Servings |
portion |
- 2 cups milk 500 ml - I use whole milk
- 1 vanilla bean
- lemon rind to taste, I use the rind of approximately 1/3 of a lemon
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2/3 cup sugar 150 g
- 4 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 60 g
Ingredients
| |
- Slice the vanilla bean lengthwise in half and scrape out the seeds.
- Pour the milk in a saucepan and add the vanilla bean and seeds, the cinnamon, half of the sugar and bring to a boil. Once it starts to boil, take it off the heat and remove the vanilla bean, lemon rind and cinnamon stick. You can sift it if that's easier.
- Next, mix the egg yolks with the sugar till combined, add the flour and mix to combine again. Add a little bit of the hot milk mixture to the egg mixture, a splash or two and mix to combine.
- Pour the milk back into a pan if you've sifted into something else and turn on the heat again. While stirring add the egg mixture to the milk mixture and mix until the cream starts to thicken, about 3-5 minutes.
- When the cream has thickened, pour the mixture into a flat dish. Cover the pastry cream with plastic wrap, make sure the plastic wrap touches the surface and sticks to the cream, this will prevent a skin forming on the cream. Put the pastry cream in the fridge to chill.
- Once chilled, the pastry cream is ready to use.
Please note that the cup measurements in this recipe are approximate. I have added cups for those that prefer using cups.
- Pastry cream can be kept in the fridge for several days.