Cream Filled Pastries

From cream puffs and eclairs, to doughnuts and show stopping Napoleon pastries, Cream Filled Pastries are the most indulgent kind of pastry.

The secret to incredible cream filled pastries is to start with the very best pastry cream recipe. Pastry cream is a rich, creamy custard that's one of the most versatile and important elements in a baker's repertoire.

Over the years, I've developed a pastry cream recipe that's simple to make, remarkably stable, and comes out perfect every time. It will hold its own for hours without breaking down, and you can even freeze it and bake it inside pastries like hand pies.

I am not exaggerating when I say that this pastry cream recipe is the most foundational recipe in my kitchen. It's foundational to every cream pie recipe, used as a filling for layer cakes and crepe cakes, the star of every French pastry, and the delicious center of cream filled doughnuts and doughnut holes.

If I had one piece of advice to all home bakers it would be this: learn how to make pastry cream. After that, there's no limit to the incredible pastries you can create.