Crème Patissiere or Pastry cream

I had wanted to make crème patissiere for a very long time! So finally I decided to make it for tart filling, one of the petit fours I was making.

This recipe has been adapted from joyofbaking.com.

For ½ a cup of this delightfully light custard like filling, you will need:

150 ml milk
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ egg yolks
25 g granulated white sugar
10 g plain flour
10 g cornflour

This recipe is enough to fill about 18 mini tartlets but it can also be doubled if required.

1. In a heat-proof bowl mix the sugar and egg yolks together.
2. Sift plain flour and cornflour and add it to the egg mixture and mix it till it forms a smooth paste.
3. In a saucepan bring the milk to a boil, only till it foams up and then remove it from the heat.
4. Now slowly add it to the egg mixture whisking it constantly.
5. Then put it into a saucepan and cook over gentle heat-whisking constantly – till it boils. Wait for another minute after that, the mixture would be thick and creamy by now.
6. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
7. Store in a bowl, put a cling film right on the surface of the crème patissiere to prevent formation of skin.  Once cooled, you can store it in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Here is the full recipe for shortbread tarts filled with crème patissiere.

Shortbread tartlets

A perfect recipe for petit fours, for parties, these tart shells are easy to make and can be frozen as well. They melt in your mouth, dainty and tender, they can be filled with a variety of fillings from cream cheese to chocolates. I have filled them with crème patissiere. You can then top them with any fresh fruits you want.

Ingredients
113 g unsalted butter
27 g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
100 g plain flour
15 g rice flour or cornflour
1/8 th tsp salt

Unlike shortbread cookies they contain cornflour or rice flour which gives them the melting taste like in cornflour cookies. 

This recipe makes 18 small  2” tartlets, you can easily double the recipe.

1. You can do this by hand as well, or using a hand mixer beat the butter till smooth. Do not over beat because you do not want to incorporate air.
2. Then add the icing sugar and beat it in just till it is incorporated in the butter.
3. Next mix in the vanilla extract. Then combine the plain flour, cornflour and salt. Mix it in the butter mixture. Do not over beat, just only till all the flour is incorporated.
4. Just a couple of tips, now since the butter I had used was too soft my dough was really sticky to work with. So you can keep it in the fridge for 20-30 mins so that it is easier to handle. If your butter is not too soft, your dough will be soft but not too sticky.
5. Now prepare the tart tin tray by greasing the tin with butter. Take a tablespoon of the shortbread dough and press it in the tin with your fingers along the base and sides. To prevent it to puff up, cover the tart tin tray with cling film and put it in the freezer for 15 minutes.
6. Pre heat the oven to 170 ˚C fan oven. Remove the tray from the freezer and remove the cling film. Bake the tarts for 15-20 mins till the tarts are golden in colour. In between check the tarts, if they are puffing up just poke the tarts with a fork.
7. After they are baked , take them out and cool completely in the tin on a wire rack. The tarts are tender and crisp so carefully take them out of the tin. They should not stick to the tin but if they have just run a knife around to loosen them up.
8. Pipe your filling in the tart and decorate as desired.

Check out recipes for more petit fours here.