Making Crème Pâtissière – not as scary as you think!
Crème pâtissière is that fabulous vanilla scented thick custard that you find in French pâtisserie, custard slices, doughnuts and in Portuguese custard tarts amongst many other dishes. It sounds like it might be a scary thing to make but in reality it is very straightforward. Here’s how we make it –
Ingredients
8 egg yolks
2dssp cornflour
50g plain flour
120g caster sugar
1tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
600ml milk, warmed to boiling point
Method
Put the egg yolks, cornflour, sugar and flour into a bowl
Mix it all up
Make sure it’s smooth
Add half the hot milk and stir it in
Add the rest of the milk and stir that in
Put the mixture back into a thick-bottomed pan and bring to the boil stirring all the time
It will get really thick and probably quite lumpy – don’t panic!!
Keep beating until it all becomes smooth
Turn the creme pat into a clean mixing bowl and add the vanilla bean paste
Cover the surface – right on the surface – with some scrunched up wet baking parchment to stop a skin forming and let it cool
What to do with it once you’ve made it
Once you’ve made your creme pat, keep it in the fridge and use it for whatever you want within 4 days of making it –
- Make ice cream with it
- Layer up Mille Feuille with your creme pat and fresh fruit – strawberries traditionally
- Pipe into doughnuts
- With apple pie, crumble, cake….
- Portuguese custard tarts
Portuguese Custard Tarts