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Eggless Pastry Cream

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Makes about 2 cups 1x

Time 20 minutes, plus chilling

Units Scale

Ingredients

  • 4 1/2 tablespoons (40g) cornstarch
  • 1/3 cup (80g) sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (or half as much table salt); see variations
  • 1/4 teaspoon turmeric, for color; optional
  • 1–12 ounce can (354mL) evaporated milk
  • 1/2 cup (120mL) heavy cream
  • 4 tablespoons (60g) butter
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

Instructions

  1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together cornstarch, sugar, salt, and turmeric (if using). Whisk in evaporated milk and heavy cream and place the saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir occasionally at first, then once the mixture is steaming, stir constantly. Alternate between a whisk and a rubber spatula to make sure you’re scraping the bottom and edges of the pan. Once you start to see large bubbles appear on the surface, cook for one more minute to ensure the cornstarch is fully absorbed. The mixture should be thick, like pudding.
  2. Remove from the heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve over a medium bowl. Cover the pastry cream with a piece of plastic film, placing the film directly on the surface so a skin doesn’t form. Let cool to room temperature, then chill completely, at least 2 hours.
  3. The pastry cream will be quite stiff straight out of the refrigerator — give it a good stir before using.

— Recipe by Holly Haines

Recipe variations

Black salt: Indian black salt (kala namak) has a sulfur-y, eggy flavor, which gives this eggless pastry cream more of the traditional egg flavor. Reduce kosher salt to 1/8 teaspoon and add 1/8 of teaspoon black salt along with the dry ingredients.

Malted milk: When whisking together the dry ingredients, add in 1 1/2 tablespoons of malted milk powder.

Lighter, fluffier pastry cream: Whip 1/2 cup heavy cream to stiff peaks, then fold into the pastry cream after it’s chilled and stirred. 

Pourable cream: Reduce the cornstarch to 2 1/2 tablespoons (30 grams) for a pastry cream with a thinner, pourable consistency.