Pastry Cream

  • Prep time:

  • Cook time:

  • Total time:

  • Portion/Yield:

    Makes approximately 350g pastry cream

  • Difficulty:

    Easy

Every time I make pastry cream also better known as crème patisserie, it takes me back in time. As a young chef visiting Paris, I used to enjoy staring into the endless patisserie windows admiring the spectacular mouth watering creations whipped up by the master patisserie.

Pastry cream is one of the basic recipes worth mastering and having in your collection. It’s delicious and makes your baking that little bit extra special.  Quick to whip up, do not make too much at once as it keep for no longer than three days in the fridge. I make this recipe either the conventional way or using the Thermomix. It’s simple and easy to use the Thermomix  as it does the cooking and stirring for you while you get on with other tasks, brilliant springs to mind…

Ingredients & Method

  • 300ml full fat milk
  • 30g unsalted butter
  • pinch of salt
  • 60g caster sugar
  • 30g plain flour
  • 3 free range egg yolks
  • 1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped

Conventional Method

Rinse a medium non-stick saucepan with cold water. Pour the milk in to the saucepan; add the butter, salt and the split vanilla pod and seeds. Bring to the boil over medium heat.

In a separate bowl whisk the egg yolks and sugar. Sift the flour over the eggs and mix to a smooth lump free paste.

Once the milk is boiling, remove from the heat, pour a ladle of boiling milk over the egg mixture, stir quickly till smooth. Repeat this a couple of times until half the boiling milk has been mixed in to the egg mix.

Pour the egg mix back in to the saucepan.

Bring the mix back to the boil over medium heat, stirring continuously.

Once boiling turn the heat right down to a gentle simmer, cook the pastry cream for 3 minutes.

Pour the cooked pastry cream into a clean storage container; cover the surface with parchment paper or plastic, as this will prevent a skin forming.

Keep the pastry cream in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days.

Thermomix Method

Measure all the ingredients directly in to the Thermomix bowl, add the scraped vanilla seeds but not the whole pod. Set the timer to 7 minutes at 90C, speed 4. Once cooked turn the speed up to speed 9 for 5 seconds to ensure a smooth velvety finish. Pour the cooked pastry cream in to a clean storage container; cover the surface with parchment paper or plastic, as this will prevent a skin forming. Keep the pastry cream in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days.

Cooks Notes

Rinse the saucepan with cold water before boiling milk; it prevents the milk from catching. Milk contains natural sugars and will caramelise and burn quickly.