Best Craig Claibornes Pastry Cream Recipes

CRAIG CLAIBORNE'S CREAM PUFFS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Rub a baking sheet all over with butter and sprinkle with flour. Shake sheet back and forth until surface is coated with flour. Shake off excess.
• Put water in a saucepan and add 8 tablespoons butter, salt and sugar. Bring to a boil.
• Add 1 cup flour all at once, stirring vigorously around and around with a wooden spoon until a ball is formed and no mixture is left on the sides of the saucepan.
• Add one egg, beating vigorously and rapidly with the spoon until it is well blended with the mixture. Add another egg, beat until incorporated, and continue with remaining eggs until all are beaten in.
• Fit a pastry bag with a round-tipped No. 6 pastry tube. Spoon mixture into the bag. Holding the pastry bag straight up with tip close to the floured surface of the baking sheet, squeeze it to make mounds of pastry at 2-inch intervals all over pan. There should be about 36 mounds.
• The mounds may have pointed tips on top. To flatten these, wet a clean tea towel and squeeze it well. Open it up, fold it over in thirds. Hold it stretched directly over the mounds, quickly patting down just enough to rid the mounds of the pointed tips. Do not squash the mounds.
• Place pan in oven and bake 30 minutes, or until cream puffs are golden brown and cooked through. Remove and let cool.

QUICHE LORRAINE RECIPE

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 2. Line a nine-inch pie plate with the pastry. By all means build a rim with the pastry and flute it. This is essential for the amount of custard indicated in this recipe. 3. Cover the bottom of the pastry with a round of parchment paper and add enough dried beans or peas to partly fill the shell. Bake 10 minutes. 4. Reduce the oven heat to 375 degrees. Remove and discard the beans and parchment paper and set the pastry-lined pie plate aside. 5. Cook the bacon until crisp and remove it from skillet. Pour off all but one tablespoon of the fat remaining in the skillet. Cook the onion in the remaining fat until the onion is transparent. 6. Crumble the bacon and sprinkle the bacon, onion and cheeses over the inside of the partly baked pastry. 7. Combine the eggs, cream, nutmeg, salt, pepper and Tabasco sauce to taste. Strain the mixture over the onion-cheese mixture. Slide the pie onto a baking sheet. 8. Bake the pie until a knife inserted one inch from the pastry edge comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Remove to a wire rack. Let stand five or 10 minutes before serving.

PASTRY CREAM (CREME PATISSIERE)

Steps:

• Place the milk and split vanilla bean, if used, in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover and keep hot.
• Put the sugar and egg yolks in a mixing bowl (this may be done in a mixer) and beat with a wire whisk until the mixture is golden yellow and forms a ribbon. Using the whisk, stir in the cornstarch.
• Strain the hot milk into the egg and sugar mixture, beating constantly with the whisk. The vanilla bean may be rinsed off and stored in sugar.
• Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly with the whisk. Cook for one minute, stirring vigorously. Remove from the heat. Add the vanilla extract, if used. Cover and let cool. Fold in the whipped cream and Grand Marnier.

QUICHE LORRAINE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Line a nine-inch pie plate with the pastry. By all means build a rim with the pastry and flute it. This is essential for the amount of custard indicated in this recipe.
• Cover the bottom of the pastry with a round of parchment paper and add enough dried beans or peas to partly fill the shell. Bake 10 minutes.
• Reduce the oven heat to 375 degrees. Remove and discard the beans and parchment paper and set the pastry-lined pie plate aside.
• Cook the bacon until crisp and remove it from skillet. Pour off all but one tablespoon of the fat remaining in the skillet. Cook the onion in the remaining fat until the onion is transparent.
• Crumble the bacon and sprinkle the bacon, onion and cheeses over the inside of the partly baked pastry.
• Combine the eggs, cream, nutmeg, salt, pepper and Tabasco sauce to taste. Strain the mixture over the onion-cheese mixture. Slide the pie onto a baking sheet.
• Bake the pie until a knife inserted one inch from the pastry edge comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Remove to a wire rack. Let stand five or 10 minutes before serving.

PASTRY CREAM

Steps:

• Bring milk, vanilla bean pulp and pod to a boil. Cover pan, turn off heat and let rest for at least 10 minutes or for up to 1 hour.
• Fill a large bowl with ice cubes, and set aside a smaller bowl that can hold finished cream.
• Whisk yolks, sugar and cornstarch together in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Whisking constantly, drizzle in one-quarter of the hot milk. When yolks are warm, add the rest of the liquid in a steadier stream. Remove pod, return pan to medium heat and, whisking vigorously, bring mixture to boil. Boil - still whisking - for 1 to 2 minutes before pressing cream through a sieve into the small bowl. Set bowl into ice bath, add cold water and stir frequently to cool cream to 140 degrees. Stir in butter. Keep cream over ice until it is completely cool.

SOUR-CREAM PASTRY

Steps:

• Put 3 1/4 cups of the flour, salt to taste, baking powder, butter, eggs and sour cream into the container of a food processor. Process until thoroughly blended.
• If a food processor is not used, put the flour, salt to taste and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Add the butter and cut it with two knives or a pastry blender until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. Using a fork, add the eggs and thoroughly blend.
• Scrape the mixture out onto a lightly floured board and knead as briefly as possible, using as little flour as possible to make a smooth and workable dough.
• Shape the dough into a flat cake and wrap it in plastic wrap. Chill until ready to use.