Every year when the holidays approach I think I’m going to create the most extravagant dessert table and that “this will be the year that I go all out”, but every time we get closer to the day I’m burnt out from work, Christmas shopping, or I’m simply not home and have no time to create amazing desserts. So this year since I’m also going to be in the Philippines for the holidays, I’ve created a a bunch of other super simple yet delicious desserts, such as the ginger molasses cardamom cookies, and the meringue tree-ts. These desserts are also all perfect for serving crowds and dinner guests since they are small single-serving pudding cups.
I got the inspiration for these pudding cups from the Mont Blanc, which is a traditional pastry that resembles a snowy capped mountain from the piped chestnut cream and the dusting of icing sugar. Usually it is served in a tart, but when you don’t have the time, taking vanilla pastry cream and chestnut cream and serving them as pudding cups is equally as delicious and half the time. The simple yet elegant flavours of this dessert really makes them quite the addiction. Just thinking about the silky smooth custard and subtle earthy yet sweet taste of the chestnut cream is making my stomach grumble horribly and I intend on remaking these custard cups as soon as I get home!!!!
Excuse my hunger-induced rage and please enjoy the recipe and video tutorial below. Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe New Year’s celebration and may 2019 bring us all more love, good skin, wealth, and overall happiness (a girl can dream).
Here is the recipe:
Vanilla Bean Pastry Cream
This recipe makes about 8-10 small pudding cups depending on the size of your cups.
Ingredients
For the vanilla bean custard:
400g (1-2/3 cup) milk
4 egg yolks
80g (3/8 cups) sugar
(2 tbsp) cornstarch
(2 tbsp) flour
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or the seeds from 1 vanilla bean pod
30g (2 tbsp) butter
Method:
- Mix your egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and flour in a medium stainless steel bowl. Set aside.
- Bring your milk to a soft boil in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Once the milk begins to simmer, pour or ladle a little bit into the egg mixture and whisk immediately. Add small amounts of milk at a time while mixing the egg mixture in order to temper the eggs without cooking the eggs.
- Once you have about a third to half of the milk incorporated into the egg mixture, pour it all into the saucepan and return to heat.
- Whisk constantly over medium heat to prevent uneven cooking, until the mixture starts to boil, and let it boil for 2 min, whisking the entire time or until the mixture is thickened.
- Add in your soft butter and stir to combine. Put it into a wide bowl or sheet pan with plastic wrap directly on the pastry cream, in order to prevent a skin forming when it cools.
- Refrigerate until completely cooled, then transfer to a piping bag fitted with a large plain tip into order to pipe into the pudding cups, alternating with the chestnut cream (recipe below)
- Enjoy!
Chestnut Cream
Ingredients
300g (2-2/3 cup) cooked chestnuts
75g ( 1/3 cup cream)
50g (1/4 cup) sugar
Method:
- Place the cooked chestnuts, cream, and sugar into a food processor and blend on high speed until it forms a smooth paste.
- Reserve in the refrigerator until needed to pipe onto the pudding cups.
- Enjoy!
ally bakes 
Look fantastic Ally, I am all over this! (:
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Thanks Nicholas!! These are basically my new addiction haha, Happy New Years! 🙂
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