Vanilla Pastry Cream Recipe

Instructions

1. Step 1

   Gather the ingredients.

2. Step 2

   Heat the milk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat just until it starts to steam.

3. Step 3

   Separately, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch in a large bowl. You're going to want to whisk really hard until the consistency is thick and creamy.

4. Step 4

   Once the milk has just begun to steam, slowly pour about half of the milk into the egg mixture in a thin stream, while mixing vigorously. Leave the rest of the milk in the pan.

5. Step 5

   Next, add the thickened egg mixture back into the pan with the rest of the milk. Again, whisk vigorously, for 2 to 3 minutes, while continuing to heat the mixture gently over medium heat, until the pastry cream is quite thick. But don't let it burn.

6. Step 6

   Remove from heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla.

7. Step 7

   To cool, transfer the pastry cream to a bowl, and then set that bowl inside a larger bowl filled with ice water. Cool like this for 30 minutes.

8. Step 8

   Then refrigerate the pastry cream until it's fully chilled. About 4 hours in the fridge is best, but it will keep in the fridge for two to three days.