A highly versatile, traditional Creme Patissiere recipe (sometimes called pastry cream or creme pat)! Use this pastry cream as a filling for eclairs, as a cake filling and more. With milk, flour, sugar, cornstarch, egg yolks and vanilla.
A half an hour before starting the pastry cream, put another large bowl in the freezer to chill.
In a medium pot, bring the milk and vanilla to a simmer—hot but not boiling. If using fresh vanilla, split the pod and remove the seeds. Add the seeds and the pieces of pod to the milk as it warms.
2 cups whole milk, 1 vanilla bean
While the milk is warming, combine the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and flour into a large bowl. Whisk until the mix is thick and smooth.
10 egg yolks, ⅔ cup granulated sugar, 3 ½ tbsp cornstarch, 3 ½ tbsp flour
When the milk is hot, remove the pieces of vanilla bean pod. Then, slowly pour the milk into the egg mix, whisking continuously.
When all of the milk is whisked into the eggs, strain the liquid back into the milk pot. Add the lemon zest and and heat the custard over medium heat until it thickens. Whisk constantly to prevent lumps.
1 lemon zest
Pour the pastry cream into into the chilled bowl, whisking continuously—this time to quickly cool down the custard.
When the custard is mostly cool, lay plastic wrap or a silicon lid directly on top of the custard and put that in the refrigerator to chill as well.
Video
Notes
Super creamy pastry cream?To make the creamiest pastry cream: Chill a large bowl in the freezer an hour before you pan to make the pastry cream. Then, transfer the thickened custard to the cold bowl and keep whipping to cool it off.