Creme Patissiere - Thick Homemade Custard

Ingredients

Method

Bring milk, sugar and vanilla bean and seeds to a simmer in a saucepan. Take care not to boil
In a large bowl, whisk together extra sugar and yolks, then whisk in cornflour to form a paste. Carefully whisk about 1/2 cup hot milk mixture into egg mixture until incorporated, slowly whisk in remaining hot milk. Continue whisking until smooth and combined
Return mixture to saucepan and whisk over low heat until very thick and custardy, bring to the boil, then immediately remove from heat. Pour the mixture into a shallow dish and cover with plastic wrap pressing the plastic directly onto the surface of the custard to avoid a skin forming. Refrigerate for several hours until cold and set
Before using to fill cakes, place the set custard into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium speed until thick, smooth and glossy. The custard is now ready to fill cakes, profiteroles, eclairs or cannoli

Tips & Hints

For Italian Custard Cream, fold 300ml softly whipped cream into the beaten custard mixture. For chocolate custard, stir squares of dark chocolate into the custard once thickened and removed from the heat. For coconut custard, increase the quantity of milk slightly and add dessicated when warming the milk. Strain before whisking into egg yolks