When I was a teenager, baking was my main culinary passion. However, I hated making pastry cream. 😅

It wasn’t a favorite preparation in our home because we always had a preference for whipped cream, even in fillings. When cream was needed and couldn’t be substituted, I would reluctantly attempt it, always cautiously and with fear of failure. At that time, I used the only recipe available in our house, from a cookbook of my mom’s, which required heating the milk before adding it to the eggs. A method I’ve seen often used by many, but I never liked it because two times out of three the cream would curdle (and I’d get frustrated every time!).

When I went to university, living with my friend Angela in that first year in Bologna was of fundamental importance for my life. First because thanks to her I met my husband 😀💪 and then because she taught me a foolproof method to make pastry cream. A method I have never abandoned. (nor the husband 😄).

At that time, Angela ate very little, but she could make a fabulous trifle, and the image of her in front of the stove of our tiny university kitchen preparing her pastry cream (to use later for her trifle) is one of the indelible memories I have of that adventurous first academic year.

And nothing. Over the years, I forgot Angela’s cream recipe because, as I’ve mentioned in other recipes, pastry cream continues to be one of the desserts, or better, one of the fillings least requested in my home, and for years and years, I didn’t consider it at all. Then one day, when I needed a reliable recipe, I asked my sister-in-law to share hers with me (which, surprise, was similar).

So, this recipe I share with you today is the result of combining the two recipes, along with my necessary personalizations. With the essential and infallible cold milk method that Angela taught me three decades ago.
Which, without a doubt, I will never change. 😍

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The other sweet creams on this blog: 👇

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Inexpensive
Preparation time: 5 Minutes
Cooking methods: Stove
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients

Here are the ingredients for preparing the minimum quantity (i.e., with just one egg). This yields enough pastry cream to fill a dessert (a generous layer, or two “moderate” layers).

1 egg (whole)
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 lemon peel

Tools

Saucepan
Spoon
Deep Plate

How to Prepare the Pastry Cream:

Break the whole egg into a saucepan.

Add the sugar and mix well with a spoon.

Add the flour, a little at a time.
Mix until the flour is well combined and without lumps.

Gradually pour in the cold milk, or better, at room temperature, while continuing to stir.
Add the lemon peel and transfer the saucepan to the stovetop (over medium heat).
Bring to a boil while stirring continuously.

As soon as it reaches a boil, lower the heat to the minimum.

Cook, still stirring, until the cream has thickened.

Continue cooking for a couple of minutes or until the desired consistency.

Finally, remove the lemon peel.
Let the cream cool before using it.

Tip: To speed up the cooling process, avoid keeping the cream in the saucepan and transfer it to a plate or other container, stirring it often with a spoon so that the surface does not solidify (forming a “skin”). Change the plate several times until the cream has cooled down.

To prevent the formation of surface skin, you can cover the cream with plastic wrap in contact (not my preferred method, but it is equally effective). However, this method does not allow for quick cooling because the plastic wrap, obviously, acts as a cover.