Pastry Cream and Pastry Cream Variations by Le Cordon Bleu

This is an excellent recipe for Pastry Cream that I got from culinary school. I use it all the time for cake fillings, fruit tart fillings, etc… There are also 4 variations to this recipe.

Pastry Cream and Pastry Cream Variations by Le Cordon Bleu

Ingredients

  • Milk 1quart
  • Sugar 4oz
  • **************************
  • Egg Yolks 4
  • Whole eggs 2
  • Cornstarch 2.5 oz
  • sugar 4oz
  • ***************************
  • Butter 2oz
  • Vanilla Extract 1 tbsp – or 1 vanilla bean

Instructions

  1. 1. In a heavy saucepan dissolve the sugar in the milk and bring just to a boil.
  2. 2. With a whip, beat the egg yolks and whole eggs in a stainless-steel bowl.
  3. 3. Sift the cornstarch and sugar into the eggs. Beat with whip until perfectly smooth. *Do this step when the milk/sugar is almost at a boil to prevent the sugar from cooking the eggs.*
  4. 4. Temper the egg mixture by slowly beating in the hot milk in a thin stream. *adding to much too fast with cook the eggs*
  5. 5. Return the mixture to the heat and bring to a boil; stirring constantly.
  6. 6. When the mixture COMES TO A BOIL and thickens, remove from heat.
  7. 7. Stir in the butter and vanilla. Mix until the butter is melted and completely blended in.
  8. 8. Strain using a mesh strainer – this will remove any “scrambled” egg pieces, if any.
  9. 9. Pour into a shallow pan, plastic plastic wrap directly over the surface to prevent crusting. Cool and chill as quickly as possible
  10. VARIATIONS:
  11. Deluxe Pastry Cream
  12. omit the whole eggs in the basic recipe and use 8-10 egg yolks – this makes it taste much richer.
  13. Pastry Cream Mousseline
  14. For a lighter pastry cream filling, fold whipped heavy cream in to the chilled pastry cream. Quantities may be varied to taste. In general, for every 1at pastry cream, use .05-1 Cup heavy cream.
  15. Chocolate Pasty Cream:
  16. Melt together 2 oz sweet chocolate and 2 oz unsweetened chocolate. Stir into the hot pastry cream.
  17. Coffee Pastry Cream:
  18. Add 2 tbsp instant coffee powder to the milk in step 1.

Comments (3)

on

I just made this and it turned out perfect!! I was slightly worried when I tempered the eggs and wound up with a LOT of foam on top that didn't go away until after the bottom layer of mixture thickened fully. I just kept stirring and stirring and it all mixed together beautifully! I ran it through a wire mesh strainer after I was done but didn't have any scrambled egg pieces at all. Now I want to dabble with the other variations of this recipe! Thank you for posting it.