Vanilla Cream Filling

Elena Butuc

It might seem like it's just a simple vanilla cream filling recipe (or creme patissiere, crema pasticcera), but, if you don't follow certain rules along the way, you may not get exactly what you want. I've been cooking it for many years now, when I'm in a rush I do the quicker microwave version, and each time it's been a success. Now it's time to turn it into a proper vanilla cream recipe, I doubled the amounts and I'm going to show you how to easily cook it over heat. What I like about it is that the process is very quick and I can asure you this is the tastiest vanilla cream you've ever tried - with the perfect texture, taste and colour, suitable for any dessert you want to use it for. I use it as a filling for eclairs, puddings, cakes, donuts etc.

And here is another plus - people keep asking me what to do with the egg yolks left unused from other dishes - so, use them to cook, cool and freeze this cream and you'll be able to use it whenever you need. The texture and taste will be perfectly preserved and it will prove itself useful when you least expect :)

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Ingredients

Metric US

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Egg yolks

4 pieces

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Milk

800 ml

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White flour

6 tbsp

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Sugar

150 g

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Butter

100 g

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Vanilla Extract

0.5 tsp

extract, sticks or ground natural vanilla (that's what I used)

Step by step

For this recipe I usually pick a casserole dish or a heavy-bottomed pan - the cream comes to a boil quicker and so I speed up the process.

If you don't have one of these, it's better to use any pot or bowl and put it in bain-marie, it will take longer, but, at least, it won't burn.

So, mix 4 egg yolks with sugar and whisk.

I must use a whisk, so here is Tupperware, both a whisk and a spoon, very convenient and resistant. I used it a lot, as you can tell from the picture :)

So, mix the egg yolks with sugar.

Pour in about 100ml cold milk, mix.

Add flour to the mixture.

Now it's very important to whip thoroughly to make the mixture blend perfectly - so that there won't be any lumps.

Keep whipping until the mixture is smooth and consistent, if the whisk doesn't help, use a vertical blender.

Then pour in the cold milk left, little at a time and whisk every time.

Now we cook the cream over heat, practically, the job is done - all we need to do now is stir from time to time and wait until it comes to a boil.

Notice it gets thicker and thicker as it gets hot.

And when it comes to a boil, it gets even denser and it's just perfect to be used in the recipes - enough thick and not too runny.

Now remove the pan from the heat.

Add vanilla and butter to the hot cream and stir well until completely dissolved.

Let me tell you a little secret - in order to reduce the number of calories, I often use less butter, or even at all. But this is about preferencies and taste, I am showing you the classic recipe and then you can decide.