Chocolate Pastry Cream

[kirra]

Chocolate Pastry Cream

Ingredients:

2 Cups (500g) Whole milk
4 Large egg yolks
6 Tbsp (75g) Sugar
3 Tbs Cornstarch, sifted
7 Oz (200g) Bittersweet chocolate, melted
1/3 Tsp Ground Tonka bean
2 1/2 Tbsp (1 1/4 oz/40g) Unsalted butter, at room temperature

Preparation:

In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.

Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture. Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat). Stir in the melted chocolate, the ground tonka and then remove the pan from the heat.

Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process (make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth).

Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140° F (60° C), remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled (the cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge).

Notes:
Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.

The pastry cream can be made 2-3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.