Vegan Crème Pâtissière (Pastry Cream)
Smooth and silky vegan crème pâtissière (or pastry cream) perfect for piping and with a taste that’s so good you could eat it by the spoonful!
Ingredients
- 250 g soy or cashew milk, sweetened
- 1/2 scraped vanilla bean, or 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 30 g white granulated sugar, if using unsweetened milk add 1 tsp more
- 25 g cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp nutritional yeast, optional
- pinch of turmeric, optional
- pinch of salt
- 60 g vegan butter, i use this one
Instructions
- *Optional: if using a vanilla bean, scrape the seeds out and stir them into the milk along with the scraped bean. Bring to a simmer, turn off the heat, cover and let infuse for 30 minutes, then pull out the scraped bean and proceed with the recipe.
- Have your butter cubed up and ready.
- In a small saucepan, heat the milk and vanilla over medium heat until barely simmering.
- Add about 1/4 of the milk to the dry ingredients while whisking. Then pour that mixture back into the saucepan while also whisking.
- Return to the heat and whisk constantly. When it starts to thicken, whisk vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes, making sure to get the corners. When you stop for a few seconds, you should see a few big bubbles coming to the surface and popping.
- Turn off the heat and whisk in the butter until completely melted and smooth then pour the cream onto a tray or plate with edges. The thinner it’s spread the faster it will cool.
- Cover with cling wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming and store in the fridge for at least 1 hour to set.
- When it’s ready to be used, transfer it to a bowl (it will be quite jelly-like) and whisk or stir with a stiff spatula until smooth and creamy. You could also do this with an electric mixer or stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
- *Update* While testing the blueberry custard bars I tried making the pastry cream in the microwave and it worked amazingly, so there’s also that option.In the microwave: In a microwave-safe bowl, Whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, nutritional yeast, turmeric and salt. Add in the vanilla then slowly add in the milk while whisking to prevent lumps. Add in the butter (melted or not) and heat the whole thing in the microwave in 30 second bursts, whisking in between, until it has bubbled, thickened and is completely smooth. And voilà!
Notes
- I strongly suggest making recipes by weight, if you make them by cups I can’t guarantee that you’ll get the same results.
- You can easily flavour this however you like by changing the extract, the milk, adding chocolate, adding alcohol, etc.
- It will keep for up to 4 days in the fridge with cling wrap directly on the surface.