Pastry Cream For Cream Puffs Recipes

Steps:

• In a heavy saucepan, stir together the milk and 1/4 cup of sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and egg. Stir together the remaining sugar and cornstarch; then stir them into the egg until smooth. When the milk comes to a boil, drizzle it into the bowl in a thin stream while mixing so that you do not cook the eggs. Return the mixture to the saucepan, and slowly bring to a boil, stirring constantly so the eggs don' t curdle or scorch on the bottom.
• When the mixture comes to a boil and thickens, remove from the heat. Stir in the butter and vanilla, mixing until the butter is completely blended in. Pour into a heat-proof container and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled before using.

Steps:

• Bring milk, 1/4 cup sugar, vanilla bean and seeds, and salt to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
• Whisk egg yolks, cornstarch, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a medium bowl. Whisking, slowly pour about 1/2 cup of hot milk mixture into yolk mixture. Slowly add remaining milk mixture until incorporated. Pour mixture back into the saucepan, and cook over medium-high heat, whisking, until it begins to bubble in center and registers 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat; discard vanilla bean.
• Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add butter; beat on medium speed until butter has melted and mixture has cooled, about 5 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours or up to 2 days. Just before using, beat on low speed or whisk by hand until smooth.

Steps:

• To make the cream puffs: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. In a large saucepan, bring the water, butter, salt, and granulated sugar to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. When it boils, immediately take the pan off the heat. Stirring with a wooden spoon, add all the flour at once and stir hard until all the flour is incorporated, 30 to 60 seconds. Return the pan to the heat and cook, stirring, 30 seconds to evaporate some of the moisture.
• Scrape the mixture into a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix at medium speed. With the mixer running, and working 1 egg at a time, add 3 of the eggs, stopping after each addition to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix until the dough is smooth and glossy and the eggs are completely incorporated. The dough should be thick, but should fall slowly and steadily from the beaters when you lift them out of the bowl. If the dough is still clinging to the beaters, add the remaining egg and mix until incorporated.
• Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip, pipe the dough onto the baking sheet, in 2-inch diameter rounds or balls. Whisk the remaining egg with 1 1/2 teaspoons water. Brush the surface of the rounds with the egg wash to knock down the points (you may not use all the egg wash). Bake 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 degrees F and bake until puffed up, and light golden brown, about 20 minutes more. Try not to open the oven door too often during the baking. Let cool on the baking sheet.
• To fill the cream puffs, place a pastry tip on your finger and poke a whole in the bottom of each puff. Whip the cream with the sugar and vanilla until stiff. Pipe whipped cream into each cream puff and chill until ready to serve, no more than 4 hours.
• Notes about the recipe: The moisture in the eggs turns to steam and puffs the batter to try to release itself. You can fill them with anything.

Steps:

• Stir together the milk, salt, vanilla bean and seeds and 1/4 cup of the sugar in a medium saucepan until smooth. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook until the sugar has just dissolved, 1 to 2 minutes.
• Meanwhile, whisk together the cornstarch, egg yolks and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a large bowl until smooth. While continually whisking, slowly pour in about 1/2 cup of the warm milk mixture. Continue to whisk until smooth. (This is called tempering, and it will prevent the yolks from scrambling.) Continue whisking and adding 1/2 cup of the warm milk mixture at a time until completely combined and smooth.
• Transfer the mixture back to the saucepan and turn the heat to medium. Cook, whisking constantly, until thickened and the texture of pudding, 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat, then whisk in the butter until smooth and glossy. Remove the vanilla bean.
• Strain the pastry cream through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly on the surface of the pastry cream, and refrigerate until chilled through, at least 2 hours and up to overnight. Before serving, whisk the pastry cream until smooth and fluffy.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine butter, sugar, salt and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil and quickly stir in the flour with a wooden spoon. Continue to stir until a film forms on the bottom of the pan.
• Remove from heat and transfer contents to a bowl to cool slightly, about 3 minutes. Add 4 eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously to entirely incorporate egg after each addition.
• For the egg wash, whisk together the remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water. Set aside.
• Transfer the pate a choux to a large pastry bag fitted with a 5/8-inch plain tip. Pipe 1-1/2-inch rounds onto each prepared pan. Gently smooth the pointed peaks with a moistened finger, rounding tops to ensure even rising. Brush tops with reserved egg wash. Bake until puffs rise and are golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Puffs can be stored at room temperature for up to 1 day.
• Transfer pastry cream to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/8-inch plain round tip. Insert the tip into the opening of each pastry, and pipe to fill with pastry cream. Serve immediately.

Steps:

• For the custard: In a small saucepan, combine 1/2 cup sugar, 5 tablespoons flour and a pinch of salt. Stir in milk, a little at a time, until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil 60 seconds, then pour a small amount of hot liquid into the 2 egg yolks, and stir. Then return now heated egg yolks to saucepan and stir, over heat, until mixture starts to bubble again. Remove from heat, add vanilla. Cover and chill in refrigerator.
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
• For the pastry: In a medium saucepan, combine shortening and water and bring to a boil. Sift together 1 cup flour and a pinch of salt and pour all at once into boiling mixture. Stir vigorously until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat, and add eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition. Drop by spoonfuls onto baking sheet, or pipe into desired shape.
• Bake 10 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce heat to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and bake 25 minutes more, or until golden. Cool completely, split, fill with custard, and replace tops.

Steps:

• Make vanilla pastry cream:.
• In 2 quart saucepan, combine sugar, flour and salt; stir in milk.
• Over medium heat, cook, stirring until mixture thickens and boils, about 10 minutes.
• Boil 1 minute.
• In a small bowl with fork, beat 6 egg yolks slightly.
• Beat small amount of heated milk mixture into yolks.
• Slowly pour egg mixture back into milk mixture, stirring.
• Cook over medium low heat, stirring till mixture thickens and coats spoon well, about 8 minutes (do not boil).
• To check thickness, lift metal spoon from mixture and hold up 15 seconds - spoon should not show through mixture.
• Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.
• At this point I usually put this custard through a strainer to get out any lumpy cooked egg pieces.
• Cover surface with plastic wrap, and chill well, about 2 hours.
• When custard is cool, in a small bowl with mixer at medium speed, beat heavy/whipping cream till stiff peaks form.
• With a rubber spatula, gently fold whipped cream into custard.
• Puffs:.
• Spray 1 or 2 large cookie sheets with nonstick spray. Heat oven to 375.
• In 2 qt saucepan over medium heat, heat butter, water and salt till butter mixture boils.
• Remove from heat.
• Add flour all at once. With a wooden spoon, vigorously stir until mixture forms a ball and leaves sides of pan.
• Add eggs to the flour mixture, one at a time, beating well after each addition, till smooth.
• Cool mixture slightly.
• Using a large spoon and rubber spatula, drop batter onto cookie sheets int 12 large mounds, 3 inches apart, swirling the top of each.
• (for eclairs, instead of mounds, spread the choux paste into 5" by 3/4" rectangles).
• Bake 50 minutes (this is what the original recipe says - however, I NEVER bake them that long - more like 35 minutes - go by your own oven - if they're looking puffed and browned and dry, they're probably done).
• At this point, remove from oven, cut a small slit in the side of each puff and return to the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
• Turn off oven and let dry for 5-10 minutes (I don't usually do this and it doesn't seem to matter too much).
• When puffs are cool, slice top off of each - there will probably be some webby looking soft dough inside - carefully pull this out to make it hollow.
• Fill each shell with the chilled pastry cream.
• Replace top and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
• For Eclairs:.
• Go through the same process, but top with semisweet chocolate glaze: In saucepan, melt 2 squares semisweet chocolate and 2 T butter, stirring constantly (or heat briefly in the microwave to melt) Stir in 1 cup powdered sugar and 3 T milk till smooth.