Pistachio Pastry Cream – Crème Pâtissière À La Pistache
Homemade pistachio pastry cream is indulgent and delicious. It has a rich crème pâtissière base, mixed with homemade pistachio paste and a hint of almond extract. It’s perfect to fill choux pastry, doughnuts, tarts, and more.
About this recipe
This recipe uses a quick pistachio paste, made from blanched, peeled, and lightly toasted pistachios processed with a little powdered sugar and almond extract. Toasting the pistachios after blanching drives off the moisture and helps their natural oils release in the food processor, so the paste comes together without needing to add water. The paste recipe makes more than you need for one batch of custard (you use half and save the rest), which gives the food processor enough volume to work with and leaves you with spare paste for next time.
If you don’t want to make your own paste, you can use store-bought pistachio paste instead. That will make the custard smoother. Homemade pistachio paste will always have more texture to it than store-bought, but I personally love the flecks of pistachio in there.
It’s worth noting that pistachio paste is different from pistachio butter or pistachio cream. Pistachio butter is usually blended with oil to make it spreadable, while pistachio cream is often mixed with white chocolate. For this recipe, you want a pure paste with no added oils or chocolate.
The custard base is a standard crème pâtissière. If you’re not familiar with making pastry cream yet, I’d start with that recipe on its own first. From there, you can also turn it into crème mousseline by adding whipped butter, or chiboust cream by folding in meringue.
Just a few ingredients
Method
- Start by blanching the pistachios. Boil them for about 60 seconds, then transfer them straight to an ice bath. The goal isn’t to cook them, just to loosen the skins so they peel off easily.
- Once cooled, drain them onto a clean kitchen towel. You can rub the skins off with the towel.
- Once peeled, spread the pistachios on a baking tray and toast them in the oven for around 10 minutes.
- Add the pistachios to a food processor and grind until they turn into a clumpy meal.
- Add the powdered sugar and almond extract, if using, and then keep blending until it forms a paste. If it’s still not coming together after 15 minutes, add 1-2 teaspoons of neutral vegetable oil to help it along.
Crème pâtissière
- Heat milk and vanilla on medium heat in a medium saucepan until it is just at a simmer.
- While the milk is warming, in a large bowl, add the egg yolks, sugar, salt and cornstarch. Whisk them together until glossy and smooth.
- Add the hot milk mixture in a steady stream to the egg mixture while continuously whisking. Add in the pistachio paste and whisk well to combine it.
- Return the mixture to the saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly until it starts to bubble.
- Whisk in the butter off the heat until smooth. If you want a more obvious green color, add a drop of food coloring at this stage.
- Pour the custard into a clean bowl, lay plastic wrap directly on the surface, and let it cool to room temperature before refrigerating until completely cold.
Tips
Ways to use pistachio pastry cream
Pistachio pastry cream is gorgeous piped into brioche donuts or bomboloni-style fried doughnuts. It’s also beautiful spooned into a strawberry custard tart and topped with fresh fruit, dolloped onto danish pastries before baking, layered in a trifle with sponge cake and whipped cream, or lightened with whipped cream to make a pistachio mousse for dessert cups.
Pistachio Pastry Cream
Ingredients
Pistachio paste
- 200 g raw shelled pistachios
- 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1-2 teaspoons neutral vegetable oil (only if needed, see notes)
Crème pâtissière
- 480 g whole milk
- 1 vanilla bean scraped, or 2 teaspoons vanilla paste or extract
- 4 large egg yolks
- 65 g granulated sugar
- 30 g cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 45 g unsalted butter
Instructions
Pistachio paste
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Fill a medium pot with water and bring it to a boil. Add the shelled pistachios and let them boil for about 2-3 minutes. 200 g raw shelled pistachios
- While the pistachios are blanching, prepare a bowl of ice water. After they have blanched, drain the pistachios and immediately add them to the ice bath.
- Once cooled, drain and tip them onto a clean kitchen towel. Use a second dry kitchen towel to rub the skins off.
- Spread the peeled pistachios on a baking tray and toast in the oven for 8-10 minutes until fragrant. Let them cool until just slightly warm.
- Add the cooled pistachios to a food processor and grind until they turn into a clumpy, fine meal. Add the powdered sugar and almond extract, if using, then keep processing until the oils release and it forms a smooth paste. This will take 10-15 minutes depending on your food processor. Stop and scrape down the sides as necessary. If it's not coming together after 15 minutes, add 1-2 teaspoons of neutral vegetable oil. 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- Scrape the paste into a jar. You'll use about half the paste for the custard. Save the rest in the fridge (up to a week) or freezer (up to 3 months).
Crème pâtissière
- In a medium saucepan, heat the milk and vanilla on medium heat until just at a simmer. 480 g whole milk, 1 vanilla bean
- While the milk is warming, add the egg yolks, sugar, salt, and cornstarch to a large bowl. Whisk until glossy and smooth. Place the bowl on a dampened kitchen towel. 4 large egg yolks, 65 g granulated sugar, 30 g cornstarch, 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Pour the hot milk in a steady stream into the egg mixture while whisking constantly.
- Add half the pistachio paste and whisk well to combine. Save the rest of the paste in a jar in the fridge (up to a week) or freezer (up to 3 months).
- Return the mixture to the saucepan over medium heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until it starts to bubble. Once bubbling, keep it at a boil and whisk for a full minute until super thick.
- Take it off the heat and whisk in the butter until smooth. Add a drop of food coloring for a more pronounced green, if desired. 45 g unsalted butter
- Pour the pastry cream into a clean bowl. Lay plastic wrap directly onto the surface and let it cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until completely cold.
Notes
- Measurements: Both grams and US cup sizes are provided. Use the toggle on the recipe card to switch between the two.
- Cook it long enough. Once the custard thickens and bubbles appear, cook and whisk for a full minute. This deactivates amylase, an enzyme in egg yolks that can cause the custard to go soupy.
- Store-bought pistachio paste. You can substitute the pistachios with around 100g store-bought pistachio paste, adjusted to taste. This will make a smoother custard.
- Leftover paste. The paste recipe makes more than you need for one batch of custard (you use half and save the rest), which gives the food processor enough volume to work with. Save the rest in a jar in the fridge (up to a week) or freezer (up to 3 months).
- Storing. Pistachio crème pâtissière can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days.
- Crème pâtissière is the base of this recipe. See that post for a full guide on making vanilla pastry cream.
