Crema Pasticcera, aka Crème Pâtissière, or Pastry Cream. That luscious vanilla cream filling that sends our taste buds into overdrive. The undisputed queen of creams. A classic of the pastry kitchen and a foundational recipe that should be at everyone’s fingertips, including yours!
Homemade Crema Pasticcera
It’s getting harder to find real crema pasticcera than it used to be, even in Italy — rich, creamy, full of flavor. Thankfully, making your own divine pastry cream at home — a genuine Crema Pasticcera, from scratch — is easy. And it’s so worth it!
Ingredients
Butter, milk, sugar, eggs, cornstarch, flour and vanilla. Here are some ingredient-focused tips to help you make really good pastry cream.
Whole Milk
Although called a cream, there is actually no cream in traditional pastry cream, only milk — which makes a beautifully rich flavored cream, with a full mouthfeel, that is never cloying. For a rich, fully satisfying cream, use whole milk. If you want the light version, I recommend eating half of the serving and enjoying every mouthful to the fullest!
Eggs
- Use the freshest, best quality eggs you can find.
- Egg tempering – Gradually introducing hot liquid into room temperature egg yolks will prevent the frustrating scrambled egg effect, and instead, will bring out the natural thickening power found in eggs.
- Continuous stirring ensures an even distribution of heat, and helps prevent the egg yolks from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Starch – Which One to Use?
- Cornstarch – Cornstarch is a superior thickener to flour, giving the cream a glossier appearance, and reaching a thicker consistency faster, and at lower temperatures. It is also gluten free and neutral flavored.
- Cornstarch vs Flour – Flour is the traditional starch used for crema pasticcera, and my personal favorite for texture and aesthetics. However, it does have you at the stove longer, wondering when it will thicken up. Cornstarch is faster, but results in a slightly shinier, slightly less traditional look and mouthfeel than with flour (although the difference is admittedly minimal). A common compromise is to mix half flour and half cornstarch.
- Cornstarch vs Potato Starch – Cornstarch and Potato Starch have very similar properties and can be used interchangeably. However, creams made with potato starch tend to thin out more when stirred.
Vanilla
For the full vanilla experience, I strongly recommend using real vanilla bean, vanilla paste, or vanilla extract,* which elevates the cream to heavenly status. Imitations will not do justice to the cream, or your taste buds. But vanilla can be expensive! For this recipe, we only use half of a vanilla bean, which means half the expense!
*Vanilla extract is made from real vanilla beans that are macerated in an alcohol and water solution to extract the vanilla’s flavor, and then aged.
How to Use a Vanilla Bean
Vanilla Tips
- Vanilla beans can be reused. Rinsed and dried, the bean pod will add vanilla flavor to any dessert, even with the seeds removed. Store in a jar of sugar to give the sugar a vanilla aroma.
- For a stronger vanilla flavor, add the vanilla bean to the milk the night before (slit the vanilla bean and add its paste of seeds along with the bean pod) and refrigerate. (A tip I picked up from Jacquy Pfeiffer in The Art of French Pastry.)
Is Crema Pasticcera a Custard?
Essentially, Crema Pasticcera is a custard, or creme Anglaise, thickened with flour or another starch. Crema Pasticcera = Creme Anglaise (milk, egg yolks, sugar) + Starch (flour or other starch). Besides thickening the cream, the addition of starch makes crema pasticcera much easier to make than creme Anglaise — with a more forgiving temperature range, which eliminates the need for a double boiler to prevent curdling.
Tips for Making Great Crema Pasticcera
Crema Pasticcera is really easy to make, but a little crema pasticcera wisdom and a few more tips help make it better:
- The flavor deepens with time. If possible, make crema pasticcera a day ahead of time, or early morning.
- The cream has to come to a good boil to kill enzymes in the yolks that would digest the starch and make the cream thinner instead of thicker.
- The cream should be thick but spreadable. It will keep thickening as it cools.
- Use a fine strainer to get a smoother texture, if lumpy or grainy.
- To cool the cream quickly, place the bowl in an ice bath and stir until cool.
- Avoid stirring once the cream cools, as stirring will break the starches bonds and thin out the cream.
- To prevent the formation of a film while cooling, place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the cream.
- Always refrigerate.
Pastry cream does not freeze well. Freezing cause the cream to separate, and defrost into a watery consistency.
Helpful Tools & Sources
- My favorite whisk for stovetop stirring.
- A kitchen scale makes measuring so much easier.
- Madagascan and Tahitian vanilla beans from Chocolate Man.
What is Crema Pasticcera used for?
Crema Pasticcera is used for many treats, including as a base for tarts, a filling for cream puffs, profiteroles, éclairs, Danish pastries, French croissants, and croissant-shaped breakfast brioche in Italy that’s also called cornetti, to name a few. In fact, this is the filling I use in my Raspberry Tart.
Like creamy desserts? If so, did you know how easy Tiramisu is to make, and that I have the best recipe that also happens to be one of the simplest and most luscious?
Crema Pasticcera for Breakfast:
An Italian Favorite
One of my favorite things, I confess, about Italy has always been the croissant-shaped brioche, filled with crema pasticcera, for breakfast. I’m not sure why they never became commonplace in America. Today, even in Italy, it’s getting harder and harder to find quality breakfast pastries. Nowadays, an alarming number of cafés (bars) in Italy have picked up the habit of serving industrial frozen pastries instead of making their own (bar-pasticcerias), or supporting local pastry makers, as they used to not too long ago. Interestingly, some fashion companies in Italy have bought some of the iconic bar-pasticceria institutions, like Cova in via Montenapoleone (Louis Vuitton) or Marchesi in via S. Maria alla Porta (Prada) in Milan.
Going to Milan? Besides Cova and Marchesi, mentioned above, other longtime favorites that have historically had excellent crema pasticcera-filled brioche and espresso are: Bastianello, St. Ambroeus, and Pasticceria Giacomo (Giacomo Caffè next to the Duomo, and Ristorante Da Giacomo, are great too), and a little more off the beaten track is Sissi.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp butter, at room temperature
- 2 cups whole milk
- ½ cup sugar
- 4 egg yolks
- 1½ Tbsp cornstarch
- 1½ Tbsp flour
- ½ vanilla bean or 2 tsp of vanilla extract
Instructions
- Take butter out of fridge to come to room temperature.
- If using vanilla bean, make a lengthwise slit with a paring knife, scrape the seeds out, and add to a medium heavy saucepan along with the pods.
- Pour in the milk, and bring just to a boil while stirring with a whisk. Remove pan from heat.
- Meanwhile, in a separate large bowl, stir the cornstarch and flour into the sugar, then add the egg yolks and whisk until smooth.
- Temper the egg yolks: While whisking non stop, slowly pour, or spoon in, around half of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture.
- Pour it all back into the saucepan, remove the vanilla bean, and bring to a gentle boil, while stirring with a whisk, making sure to get the bottom and corners of the pot. Keep stirring until thick (around 8-10 minutes).Note, the cream will continue to thicken as it cools.
- If using vanilla extract, add now, then stir in the butter.
- Cooling: Pour the cream into a bowl, and let cool for 20 minutes before refrigerating. For a faster cooling time: plunge the bowl into icy water, vigorously whisk until cool, and refrigerate immediately.
Notes
- Yield: 2 cups/500ml (Enough for one 9½”/24cm tart)
- Vanilla Bean: Can be rinsed, dried and stored in a jar of sugar for later use.
- Storage: Stays well for up to 3 days in the fridge in an airtight container. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the cream to help prevent the formation of a film on top. Does not freeze well.
- To Keep the Cream Thick: avoid stirring after refrigeration, as it will break down the starch bonds and become thinner.
Variations
- Starch: Can use all flour, or a combination of starch and flour. Potato starch works in a pinch, but tends to thin more easily if stirred once off the heat.
- Salt: To enhance flavor, stir in a pinch of salt with the starch.
- Citrus: Can substitute lemon zest in place of vanilla (or try orange zest).
Nutrition Info: Click to Expand
A Little History
The first recipe for Crema Pasticcera (Crème Pâtissière) is found in Le Cuisinier Roïal et Bourgeois, written in 1691 by François Massialot. François Massialot was an accomplished chef, and among other things, he is also credited for the creation of Crème Brulèe and Meringue.
