Pastry Cream

This recipe is from Baking from My Home to Yours, by Lorie Greenspan. I used it in my Brioche Raisin Snails and loved it. Lorie gives 7 other ways to "play around" with this cream: liquer-scented, rum-scented, cinnamon, ginger, citrus, coffee or espresso, and chocolate.

Lorie suggest using pastry cream in a crust, topped with fruit, as the filling between layers of a cake or even a serve-along spread with cookies. I will have to give this a try and try very, very, very hard not to forget to use it. I have so many recipes I'd love to give a go and find myself forgetting about the many wonderful ideas I've stumbled across.

PASTRY CREAM
2 cups whole milk
6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch, sifted
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (I used vanilla paste)
3 1/2 Tbls unsalted butter, cut into bits at room temperature.

1. Bring the milk to a boil in a small saucepan.
2. Whisk yolks together with sugar & cornstarch in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan until well blended.
3. Drizzle about 1/4 cup of the hot milk-this will temper, or warm, the yolks so they won't curdle. (I find it best to allow it to drizzle along the inside of the pan rather than directly onto the eggs.) Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the milk.
4. Put the pan over medium heat, whisking vigorously, constantly and thoroughly, bring the mixture to a boil. (Mine never did!) Keep at a boil, still whisking, for 1 -2 minutes, then remove from heat.
5. Whisk in the vanilla extract & allow to sit for 5 minutes.
6. Whisk in the bits of butter, stirring until they are fully incorporated and the cream is silky and smooth.
7. Press cream into a bowl and press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the cream to create an airtight seal and refrigerate until cold. If you would like it to cool quickly, put the bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice and cold water. Stir the cream occasionally until it is thoroughly chilled, about 20 minutes.