Lactose free pastry cream (creme patissiere)
Lactose free, low FODMAP, dairy free option*Cups and measures are in Australian cups and measures. Use gram and ml for international accuracy.
Ingredients
- 430ml (1 3/4 cups)* lactose free full fat milk (see notes for dairy free option)
- 75g caster sugar
- 3 extra large egg yolks
- 1 extra large egg (45-55g, weighed out of shell)
- 30 g gluten free cornstarch (see notes for corn free option)
- 50 g butter (salted, unsalted or good quality dairy free)
Instructions
- Heat milk in a heavy bottomed saucepan over a low-medium heat. Stir it regularly with a silicon spatula to make sure the bottom doesn't burn. Add about half the sugar.
- Meanwhile, whisk the remaining sugar and cornstarch together in a medium sized heatproof bowl. Once combined, whisk in the egg yolks and whole egg.
- Once the milk comes to a simmer, take it off the heat and transfer it to a large heatproof pouring jug.
- Place the bowl with the cornstarch egg mixture on a tea towel to stop it moving. Whisk constantly as you slowly pour the hot milk into the egg mixture. Tempering it this way brings the eggs up to a high heat without overcooking them.
- Once you have added all of your milk to the cornstarch egg mixture, pour it back into the saucepan. Turn the heat to low and cook the mixture while stirring very frequently with a silicone spatula to prevent any egg from overcooking.
- Cook for anywhere from 3-10 minutes or until the pastry creamy is visibly thickened and can easily coat the back of a spoon.
- Transfer the pastry cream to a heatproof bowl and cover it with clingfilm flush to the pastry cream. This will prevent it from developing a skin.
- Place the pastry cream in the fridge to fully cool and set - at least 2-3 hours but ideally overnight. It will thicken in this time, making it much easier to use.
- If your pastry cream has lumps and bumps, pass it through a sieve before use.
Notes
- Butter contains 0.1g lactose per 227g of butter. So, it is essentially a lactose free product (it arguably contains less lactose than store bought lactose free milk). If you are more comfortable, use a good quality plant based butter.
- For a dairy free pastry cream, use a good quality plant based butter and a neutral flavoured plant milk. See the notes in the body of the post for some pointers.
- If you need a dairy free pastry cream to be low FODMAP, see my Low FODMAP milks post.
- See the notes in the body of the post for ingredient swaps and tips.
- For a corn free pastry cream, substitute cornstarch with potato starch (not potato flour). Potato starch is white and squeaky, potato flour is pale yellow and flour-like in texture (or a bit thicker).
- I haven't tested freezing this recipe as I generally make it for a specific purpose.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!