I ♥ Pastry Cream

Whenever given the option I always pick chocolate over vanilla. But when you get real good vanilla, the game changes. Pastry cream is flavored with vanilla, and when this is made with real vanilla, you can spread it on absolutely anything and it will be delicious, also... I really like making it, I just need something to put it on.

I decided to use the same bun recipe for Gombo bread to recreate a pastry from bakeri. This is a really cute bakery in Williamsburg and whenever my husband plays soccer over there, he comes back with a treat- he knows how to make me smile. The bun is covered with pastry cream and a layer of shredded coconut. I had already made the buns (from the gombo entry), the pastry cream (from the pastel de tres leches) and I had shredded coconut (from the healthy granola)... SWEET.

However- it worked better in mind than in real life... all those tips I wrote on the gombo recipe, I didn't follow... thinking I knew what I was doing. Clearly not- the yeast was not properly activated, hence an more biscuit-like texture than an airy bun that I hoped for. It still tasted good, as I said before, pastry cream on anything is good.

 

For making these (properly), follow the recipe for the bun part in the Gombo entry. They still looked pretty... For the pastry cream, I used the same recipe for the Pastel de tres Leches.

 

After spreading a layer of pastry cream, cover them with shredded coconut- and done! 

Using good vanilla is key on the pastry cream. After overpaying at the grocery store, I placed a bulk online order. Now I feel rich, vanilla rich.

Yes, my vanilla is better than yours. And yes, I'm talking pastry smack! ;)

To get the most out of your vanilla, use the back of the knife to flatten it, this make it easier to split it lengthwise, in half.

Then use the back of the knife again, to scrape all the goodness.

Lucky me, I was left with more pastry cream, so I had to make something else to put them on... pate a choux!

(I'm saving that one for the next entry)