French Pastry Cream versus American Pudding

What is difference between a pastry cream recipe versus American pudding? The truth is, not much. As long as we are talking about the cooked version and not the box kind. It took a long time for me to figure out how to make Crème Pâtissière (fancy way of saying pastry cream.) Until I began to realize this is just a type of thickened vanilla pudding, I struggled. A lot. Which fit along with my struggle to learn pâte à choux nicely.

Once I did make the connection that pastry cream is simply thickened cooked pudding or custard, things clicked. My grandmother used to make cooked pudding all the time. It was one of the rare sweet things we would get growing up. It’s amazing still warm. I remember my brothers and I practically lining up at the stove impatiently waiting for her to spoon the wonderful custard into a bowl. I’ll share with you a really basic recipe my grandmother used to make but we will thicken it to make a pastry cream.

For comedic relief, let’s take a look at my funny attempts at learning to making pastry cream. That way, you’ll feel better about making mistakes along the way!

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Grandma’s Pastry Cream

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This is a vanilla pastry cream used in chocolate eclairs and profiteroles. It is an easy recipe to make, but requires constant supervision.

Prepare: 5 minutes mins

Bake: 10 minutes mins

Additional TimeChill Time: 2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Total: 2 hours hrs 45 minutes mins

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup (240mL) whole milk
• ¼ cup (50g) sugar
• 2 large (40g) egg yolks
• 2 tbs (20g) cornstarch
• 1 tsp (14g) butter
• ½ tsp (2.5mL) vanilla
• ¼ tsp (1g) salt

Instructions

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• In a medium saucepan, combine milk, 1/2 the sugar, vanilla and salt. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a simmer.
• In a medium heat-proof bowl, whisk together egg yolks, cornstarch, and remaining sugar. Whisking constantly, slowly pour about 1/2 cup of the hot- mixture into the egg-yolk mixture, 1/4 cup at a time, until it has been incorporated. Pour back into saucepan, and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until it thickens and reaches 160F (71C,) about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the butter.
• Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours or up to 2 days. Just before using, whisk before using as cream will be quite thickened.

Notes

You can use any type of milk but whole gives the richest flavor.

Do not leave mixture unintended.  It can boil over quickly and will scorch or can cook the eggs within seconds.