Pastry Cream AKA Creme Patissiere

Oh the love of pastry cream. This beautiful almost sinful delight has so many uses such as fillings for tarts,cakes,cream puffs and last but not least eclairs. Yum!!!

Pastry Cream

1 vanilla bean

1 2/3 cup whole milk

4 egg yolks

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

2 tablespoons butter

With a sharp knife split the vanilla bean lengthwise. Using the back of the knife carefully scrape the seeds from the bean and place into a saucepan. Toss the scraped bean into the saucepan as well. Add the milk to the sauce pan, over medium heat bring the milk and vanilla to a simmer. Turn off heat and cover tightly for 15 minutes to steep. Covering the milk and vanilla mixture is of great importance to the outcome of the pastry cream. If not covered, the finished pastry cream can be dry and not the wonderful supple cream it should be.

In a large bowl whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow. Add the cornstarch to the whisked egg yolks and whisk until well combined. Once the milk has steeped the 15 minutes. Uncover and remove the vanilla bean. Pour about a third of the milk into the egg yolk mixture and whisk until combined. This is called tempering the eggs. Tempering warms the egg mixture to that of the milk , not shocking it. Without tempering you would end up with scrambled egg instead of a smooth pastry cream. Pour the tempered mixture into the saucepan of remaining milk. Whisking constantly over medium heat, cook until mixture just begins to boil and has thickened. Remove from heat and allow to sit for about 10 minutes and stir in butter until combined.

Place the pastry cream in a bowl and cover top with plastic wrap. Allow to cool. Refrigerate if not using right away,once cooled.

Don’t trow away the spent vanilla bean. It has much more life in it. Rinse it off and allow to dry. When the vanilla bean is dry , add to a jar of sugar and just sit back a wait for the magic to happen. In a few days you will have vanilla sugar. Yum!

Very Berry Bread Pudding for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Why not?

 

10 cups cubed day old bread

3 eggs

7 egg yolks

1 2/3 cups sugar

1 vanilla bean, split and seeds, seeds, reserved

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

6 cups half-and-half

2 cups fresh mixed berries, whatever is in season

1/2 cup sugar for topping

In a 9×13 inch baking dish, spread out  bread cubes. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs with the 1 2/3 cup sugar together until combined. Add the vanilla bean seeds, vanilla extract and half-and-half; combine ingredients well. Pour over the top of the bread crumbs. Pres down the bread some that custard mixture covers the bread. Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for at least 8 hours to 24 hours. When ready to bake remove plastic wrap and sprinkle berries on top and sprinkle with the 1/2 cup sugar.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place the pudding in the oven and bake about 1 1/2 hours or until just set in center. Test by poking with knife. If when poke with knife the cut fills with custard , pudding needs a little more baking until custard no longer fill indentation but still moist. Remove from oven and allow to set for 2 hours before serving. Serve warm or cold.

Berry topping

4 cups mixed berries, large berries sliced

Juice from 1/2 a lemon

about 1/2 cup sugar, depends on sweetness of berries

1 tsp. almond extract

In a small sauce pan add 1 cup berries, sugar and lemon juice. Cook until sugar is melted. Fold in remaining berries and almond extract. Serve over pudding.