Vida Recetas Editorial
Custard (crema pastelera) is a classic pastry preparation, known for its smooth texture and delicate flavor. This custard is the base for numerous desserts, such as tarts, profiteroles, puff pastries, or filled sponge cakes. Its origin dates back to French cuisine, where it is known as crème pâtissière, and from there it has spread worldwide, adapting to different recipes and traditions.
This homemade version, ideal for those seeking an authentic result, uses simple ingredients: egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, whole milk, and natural aromas like lemon zest and vanilla bean. The key is infusing the milk with these aromas to achieve a deep and balanced flavor. Its preparation requires patience and attention, but the result is a silky custard, lump-free, perfect for filling or decorating.
It is a recipe suitable for intermediate bakers, as controlling the cooking point is essential. However, by following the steps carefully, anyone can achieve a custard worthy of professional pastry. Additionally, it allows variations: you can substitute vanilla with cinnamon or add a touch of liqueur. Undoubtedly, an essential recipe in your sweet repertoire.
Prep
50 min
Cook
15 min
Servings
6
Calories
225 kcal
Wash the lemon thoroughly and peel only the yellow part of the skin (without peeling the white part), the amount of skin to be used is to taste, if you like the taste of the lemon do not hesitate to add all the skin. It will help us to give the cream aroma and flavor.
Cut the vanilla pod in half to remove the seeds, make sure there are none left.
Prepare a bowl or a cup with a little milk, 150 ml will do (a little less than a glass). Dissolve the cornstarch in this bowl and stir well.
In a saucepan over medium heat, add the remaining milk in it, heat the milk until it is about to boil, but do not let it boil, at that point turn off the heat, add the lemon peel and vanilla bean and leave it covered for at least half an hour, this will make the flavors stick with the milk.
In parallel in another saucepan, add the egg yolks and the sugar you add little by little while you move with a whisk at the same time. When you have a concoction you can now pour in the milk that we mix with cornstarch to thicken, stir well with the help of a hand mixer until there are no lumps and the cream is firm and homogeneous.
When you have left the milk with the vanilla and lemon resting for at least half an hour, you must remove the latter from the milk and mix the milk with the homogeneous cream that we did in the previous step, always remember that it is best to add little by little while you stir the mixture.
Finally, we are going to finish the mixture, we put it on medium heat, stirring constantly, you will notice it thicken, it is important that it does not burn so be sure to control the fire and stir very well, do this until it gets a thick but soft texture, if you have tried creams before you will know what texture is ideal.
Remove and store the cream preferably in glass that does not absorb flavors from other preparations... when it has cooled you can store it in the fridge tightly covered. As tips, put transparent paper on top of the cream to cover, this is so that it does not create a crust when it cools.
This recipe has a medium difficulty level, which means it's accessible for cooks of all levels.
The preparation time is 50 minutes and the cooking time is 15 minutes.
This recipe is designed for 6 servings.
Yes, many ingredients can be substituted with similar alternatives. We recommend checking the recipe variations.
Store the preparation in the refrigerator for up to 3 days in an airtight container. Some preparations can be frozen for up to 3 months.
