Dessert

Vanilla Crème Pâtissière

Posted by truefamilyfood on

Crème Pâtissière can be used as a filling for éclairs, cream puffs, or cakes. It could also be the most decadent vanilla pudding to serve with strawberries and whipped cream. It is one of those recipes that seems difficult at first, but is so simple and quick. Give it a shot and I guarantee you won’t go back to pudding mix.

Vanilla Crème Pâtissière

Ingredients

1 ½ cup milk

1 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

¼ teaspoon salt

3 egg yolks

1 egg

1 Tablespoon butter

Instructions

  1. If using vanilla bean, combine your 1 ½ cup milk and vanilla bean in a small sauce pan. Heat until just simmering and then turn off the heat. Cover your pot and let your milk steep for 30 minutes to infuse the milk with the vanilla bean flavor. 
  2. Combine your ½ cup sugar, 2 Tablespoons cornstarch, and ¼ teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Whisk together. 
  3. Add your egg yolks and egg to the sugar mixture and whisk for 1 minute or until the yellow color lightens and the eggs are mixed in well. 
  4. Add a ¼ cup of your warm milk to your egg mixture and whisk to combine. Continue adding small amounts of milk and whisking until you have added all of your milk. If you add too much warm milk at a time, it will cook your eggs. 
  5. Add your mixture back to your milk pan and heat over medium heat. Continue whisking and heating until you see your mixture bubble. This should take about 5 minutes. Once it’s bubbling, cook for 1 minute and then pull your pan off of the heat. 
  6. Add your butter and whisk until smooth. If you are using vanilla extract, this is when you add it too and stir to combine.
  7. Push your cream through a fine mesh sieve to get out any bits of vanilla bean or clumps of cream. 
  8. Put a piece of plastic wrap or buttered parchment paper right on top of your cream to keep it from forming a skin. Chill for 2 hours. 

Notes

  • If you are in a hurry, like we often are in class, spread the cream out on a sheet pan and cover with plastic wrap to set in the fridge. This will cut your setting time to about 30 minutes. We used this method in the Éclair Puffs class of Cooking Around the World: France.

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