Pastry Cream
Pastry cream (in Portugal: Creme de Pasteleiro | in French: Crème Pâtissière | in English: pastry cream) is a milk-based cream ("custard"), thickened with egg yolks and starch.
- 250 ml of whole milk (full-fat milk) ((1 cup))
- 3 egg yolks
- 20 grams of rice starch or cornstarch/cornflour
- 65 grams of white sugar
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract or flavoring (or 1/2 vanilla bean)
- lemon peel (without the white part) ((1/4 of a lemon))
- Freezing bowl: Place a medium-sized bowl in the freezer; it will be used to quickly chill the pastry cream.
- Milk and lemon zest: In a small saucepan, combine the milk and the zest of 1/4 of a lemon. Use only the colored part of the zest (green or yellow). The white part of the lemon zest will make the cream taste bitter.
- Vanilla: add vanilla extract or a vanilla bean - 2 teaspoons of extract, or cut half a vanilla bean, scrape out the seeds and add them to the pan in place of the extract.
- Sugar, egg yolks and starch: in another pan, place the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch (cornflour) or rice starch;
- Mix: Combine the egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch until you have a smooth cream. DO NOT heat it yet.
- Boiling milk: bring the milk to a medium heat and simmer gently; remove from heat immediately.
- Mixing: Add the milk to the egg yolk and sugar mixture gradually, in 3 stages; use a strainer to add the milk; it's important to add it gradually so that the egg yolk doesn't curdle – this will make the cream very smooth.
- Liquid cream: at this stage we will have a very liquid cream, which should be heated to thicken.
- Reheat: Place the cream over low heat and stir constantly until it has a thick, paste-like consistency (similar to dulce de leche) and is free of lumps; remove immediately from heat and continue stirring.
- Chill: Transfer the pastry cream to the bowl that was in the freezer and mix well.
- Finishing touch: a good pastry cream should have a smooth and very shiny appearance.
- Refrigerate: Refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours before using. Cover with plastic wrap, ensuring it touches the entire surface of the cream to prevent a rubbery film from forming.
It is a basic preparation in confectionery/pastry making, used in a wide variety of desserts in French, Portuguese, and Brazilian cuisine, among other international cuisines.
Its basic ingredients are eggs, sugar, milk, butter, vanilla, and starch (corn or rice) or wheat flour.
Recipes that use pastry cream
The following traditional recipes use pastry cream / confectionery cream / crème pâtissière in their preparation. There are variations in ingredients and in the proportion of ingredients. Some recipes use wheat flour, others use cornstarch or potato starch. Sometimes they are flavored with cinnamon, lemon or orange zest, vanilla, cocoa, coffee, etc.
- Pastel de nata / “pastel de Belém”
- Sericaia
- Berlin Ball (in Brazil: Dream)
- Dream (in Portugal: Berlin Ball)
- Apple/strawberry/etc. tarts
- Cream puff
- Paris-Brest
- Tropezienne tart
- Mille-feuille (“thousand-leaves”)
Flavoring Pastry Cream
Pastry cream is traditionally flavored with vanilla beans or vanilla extract. But a number of other ingredients can be used to flavor it, such as:
- Lemon zest
- Orange zest
- Café
- Cocoa / chocolate
- Basil
- Lavender
- Caramel
- Cinnamon
- Pistachio
- Etc…
For the vanilla: substitute half a vanilla bean with two teaspoons of vanilla extract. The cream will be tastier with a vanilla bean, but it's an expensive ingredient and not always easy to find. Vanilla extract is a good substitute.
Pastry Cream Recipe | Pastry Cream | Crème Pâtissière
Our pastry cream recipe follows the classic French recipe. For flavoring, we use vanilla extract, which is easier to find and cheaper. But this can easily be substituted with a vanilla bean if you prefer. Using vanilla extract will make the cream darker than using a vanilla bean. We also use a large proportion of egg yolks to make the cream richer and creamier.
We use cornstarch to thicken the cream. If you want a thinner cream, substitute it with rice starch in the same proportion.
- Large bowl
- small saucepan
- Silicone whisk or spatula
- 250 ml of whole milk (1 cup)
- Vanilla: add vanilla extract or a vanilla bean – 2 teaspoons of extract, or cut half a vanilla bean, scrape out the seeds, and add it to the pan in place of the extract.
- Mixing: add the milk to the egg yolk and sugar cream little by little, in 3 stages; use a strainer to add the milk; it is important to add it gradually so that the yolk does not curdle – this way the cream will be very smooth.
- Chill: Transfer the pastry cream to the bowl that was in the freezer and stir well.
