Carla Hall's Vanilla Pastry Cream

By SMorrissey

Ingredients

• 1 cup Whole Milk
• 1 cup Heavy Cream
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1/4 cup Corn Starch
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 4 Egg Yolks (room temperature)
• 2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter (cubed)
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Preparation

Step 1

Heat the milk and cream in a sauce pot over medium-low, until steaming. Whisk in the sugar, cornstarch and salt and return to a boil.

In a bowl, whisk eggs and temper 1/2 cup of hot milk mixture into the eggs. Gradually pour this back into the pot and continue to whisk as the mixture returns to a boil. Continue to cook until thick about 5 minutes.
Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl with pats of butter in the bottom. Stir until butter melts. Add extract and stir to incorporate.

Cover with plastic wrap, pressing plastic onto top of cream to prevent a skin from forming. Place in refrigerator until chilled.