Custard cream

Pastry cream or custard cream - made by heating milk, sugar, eggs, starch, and a flavoring together—is a rich, thick, and creamy custard that's a versatile workhorse in the baker’s kitchen.

It's piped into cream puffs and éclairs, spread between the layers of a cream pie and used as the base filling in fruit tarts.

What do you need

4 yolks

120 gr sugar

1/2 lt milk

20 gr floor

20 gr cornstarch

Vanilla powder to taste

Saltwater pinch of salt

How to proceed

In a medium-sized saucepan, stir together 1/4 of milk, the sugar, salt, and the vanilla.

Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

Meanwhile, whisk the cornstarch, flour, and egg yolks with the remaining milk.

Whisk some of the hot milk mixture with the egg yolks to temper them. This keeps the yolks from turning to scrambled eggs when you add them to the simmering milk.

Pour the egg/milk mixture back into the remaining simmering milk. Doing this through a strainer will help prevent lumps later. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly with a whisk, until the mixture thickens and you see the boiling bubbles reach the center of the saucepan.

Remove from the heat and strain through a fine strainer into a bowl set in an ice bath. Stir in vanilla extract.

If you're going to flavor the pastry cream with chocolate or some other flavor, this is the time to do it, then refrigerate until cool.