Pastry cream is such fantastic stuff. It’s quick and very easy to make, it can be flavored in nearly unlimited ways, and can star in or enhance any number of sweet treats. Since I have been extremely busy at work and too knackered to barely spare a thought to dinner let alone desserts, this post ended up being some quick ideas for using pastry cream when one can’t really be bothered for more than 15 minutes of other preparation.
You’ll also have to forgive my recent orange phase, an occasional occurrence wherein I experience a small obsession with a single flavor for a week or so. It was probably the fault of those yummy muffins from the other week. Oranges are so welcome during the creaky, dry, and frozen air of January, though, so it’s no wonder that my daydreams have been featuring all things citrusy and cheerful. I even went so far as to bring out a bar of blood orange soap.
The pastry cream is Flo Braker’s recipe, which is the best I’ve tried so far. It has a good amount of sweetness and is reasonably thick without being floury. I don’t mind being a piglet and eating the cream straight from a bowl, but there were also some pomegranates to use up, and who could refuse such a lovely combination? Phyllo nests can be made pretty quickly, and it takes no time at all to spoon pastry cream inside and top with pomegranate seeds. These looked very pretty and would do nicely for a party.
There were still a lot of pomegranate seeds and pastry cream left, and it doesn’t get much simpler (i.e. if you really want no further effort, i.e. me, tonight) than a fruit parfait. Even Saint Expeditus seems tempted join me in avoiding doing real work and eating this stuff instead. See how he gazes longingly at those precious rubies…
Later on, it seemed clear that trying to get work done was a silly waste of time, so I made these mini orange yogurt cakes, a simple French favorite that takes less than 15 minutes to mix up and pour in the pan. They were pretty good plain but even better when split and filled with more of the orange pastry cream. There are no pictures of this, unfortunately, as it was done quickly in the morning before bringing them in for friends so they wouldn’t get too soggy (the cakes, not the friends). I did keep one for myself, and you’ll just have to trust me that it was pretty darn good for such little effort. The sesame seeds added a bit of interest, but I think next time I will toast the seeds and also add some to the batter in addition to the tops (oddly, they did not toast as the cakes baked).
Here’s the recipe for the Orange Pastry Cream. Feel free to substitute orange with any other citrus, or mix in nuts, chocolate, extracts or otherwise. For a smooth pastry cream, you can press it through a sieve while it is still warm. Leaving the peel in gives little bursts of orange flavor.