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Vanilla Bean Pastry Cream

This decadent and deceptively easy vanilla bean pastry cream is nestled inside an all-butter pie crust and topped with festive garnishes + pie crust cookies. 
Course: cream, Custard, Dessert, pastry cream, vanilla bean
Cuisine: cream, Dessert, filling
Keyword: custard, filling, pastry cream, pie filling, vanilla bean
Servings: 8

Ingredients

FOR THE VANILLA BEAN PASTRY CREAM:

  • 2 Cups Whole Milk
  • ½ Cup Granulated Sugar
  • 1 Large Egg + 4 Large Egg Yolks
  • 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
  • ¼ Cup Salted Butter
  • 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Bean Paste

FOR THE ALL-BUTTER PIE CRUST:

  • SEE BLOG FOR LINK TO RECIPE

Instructions

  • Warm the milk in a medium sized saucepan on medium heat until hot but not boiling. Be cautious as milk may get hot.
  • While the milk is warming, place the sugar, egg + yolks, cornstarch and salt in a bowl. Whisk until it becomes lighter in color, about thirty seconds. Set this aside until the milk is ready. 
  • One the milk is heated (this should take a minute or two depending on your stovetop temperature), remove it from the heat and pour a small amount into the egg mixture, immediately whisking the mixture to temper the eggs. This allows the egg mixture to come up to the heat of the milk without cooking the eggs. If you do happen to cook a bit of egg (you’ll see small pieces of egg in your mixture), you have not ruined it! Simply strain once or twice to remove the pieces and continue. 
  • Add the rest of the milk to the egg mixture and whisk well, pouring the entire mixture back into the saucepan and back onto the medium heat. Continuously whisking, heat until the mixture thickens, about 3-5 minutes. Remove the pastry cream from the heat and mix in the butter and the vanilla bean paste. Pour the pastry cream into a bowl and cover it tightly with plastic wrap so that the wrap touches the top of the cream. This will prevent a skin from forming as it cool. Refrigerate the pastry cream until it is chilled and thickened even further, several hours or overnight. This cream keeps well in the fridge for up to four days, so give it a whisk and use as needed. It is a perfect filling for crepes or cakes, and of course pie crusts as well. 

Notes

See blog for dietary substitution on dairy.