Christophe Felder’s French Pastry Cream
About this recipe
A cream that is one of the Pastry Staples and that you need to master!
This type of cream is used in a lot of recipes, especially in many pies and tarts
To see the recipes using this cream, click HERE
It's also a cream that is the base for other creams such as the Frangipane, the diplomat cream, the Chiboust cream, etc...
Origin of the recipe
Here's a little story about this recipe
The first written recipe mentioning this cream goes back to 1691! The chef Francois Massialot documented it in this book "Le Cuisinier Roïal et Bourgeois"
When published, this book became a real hit! This ancestor of Julia Child became popular with this book
However, the recipe called "Crême pâticière" was a bit different, as it contained A LOT of butter and some ... white pepper !
Not surprising, as in those times, the difference between savory dishes and desserts was not as clear as today. Dishes would be mixed. While visiting the Loire Castles in France, and talking to specialists, they told me that for instance, desserts were served ... at the beginning of the diner
In those times, people thought that eating sweets and desserts at the beginning would ease the digestion...
The recipe is on page 218
Source of the recipe
A recipe that I found in the book "Pâtisserie ! (French)" of Christophe Felder, a top French Pastry Chef
A book that is perfect if you want to go over most of the French Pastry art
To purchase the book online:
The recipe is on page 754
Modifications to the original recipe
I modified only a few things...
● Chef Felder adds butter, which I don't do
● I add less sugar : ½ Cup or 100 g instead of 120 g (¼ lbs )
● I add less Egg Yolks
● I also sometimes add vanilla extract or vanilla paste
1. Pour Whole Milk (2 ¼ Cups or 500 g) in a saucepan and half of Sugar (4 Tablespoons or 50 g)
2. Use Whole Milk and not skim milk, if you can
3. If you want a vanilla flavor, scrape the seeds of Vanilla Bean (1) (or use vanilla paste)
4. Cook on medium heat
Madagascar Vanilla Beans
Pure Vanilla Bean Paste
Scanpan Saucepan
Calphalon Nonstick Sauce Pan
5. Whip the Egg Yolks (4) and the second half of the Sugar (4 Tablespoons or 50 g) in a mixing bowl
Large Mixing Bowls, Stainless Steel
DeBuyer Whisk
6. Add in the Corn Starch (½ Cup or 55 g) and whip
7. Wait until the milk boils
8. Remove the vanilla bean
9. Pour the milk onto the bowl
10. Whip with a wire whip
11. Transfer to the saucepan
12. Return to heat
13. Cook on low heat and keep stirring
14. After a while, the cream thickens
15. Whip quickly to avoid lumps
16. Remove from heat
17. If you see lumps, mix with a immersion blender (sometimes called 'hand blender') on in a blender
Immersion Multi-Purpose Hand Blender
Immersion Hand Blender Bamix
18. Wrap airtight
19. Store in fridge
That's it!
