The cream pâtissiere is used in pastry to fill tarts & tartlets , and pastries like millefeulles, eclairs....
It is usually flavoured with vanilla , coffee , chocolate , or praline, but whiskey , Grand Marnier or some fruits' liquor also could be used .
Ingredients :
4 eggs (200 g)
250 g caster sugar
1 litre full fat or semi-skimmed milk
80 g of maizena (corn starch) or special powder for flan and creme pâtissiere
100 g of butter (optional)
In a saucepan , bring to the boil the milk with the 125 g of sugar .
Put the eggs and the remaining 125 g of sugar into a large bowl and whisk well..
Then add the corn starch and whisk to combine
Remove the pan from the heat , and pour 1/3 of the boiling milk on top of the eggs' mixture stir with a hand whisk (Picture 1)
Then pour the eggs' & milk mixture in the pan with the rest 2/3 of boiling milk and stir with a hand this (Picture2).
Put the mixture on the head and bring to the boil at small heat . Cook the crème patissiere for 3 minutes and whisk the it continuously. (Picture 3).
Remove the pan from the heat, add the butter (or chocolate) and stir until the butter (or chocolate) has melted (Picture 4).
The butter give a nice consistency to your custard, however is not mandatory to add it., moreover for the chocolate version butter is not needed.
Pour the cream into a large bowl (or in a cooktop), the crème needs to cool down quickly (Picture 5).
Put a layer of cling film over the top , in direct contact with the surface of the cream to prevent the formation of a crust (Picture 6).
Cool in the fridge for 1-2 hours or in the freezer for 20 minutes before use .
Whisk patissere custard before use it.
For the vanilia or coffee version, add the extract at this stage (Picture 9)