Irresistible Pastry Cream-Filled Pancakes

Written by Shawn Krajewski

Originally, this was meant to be a pastry cream recipe, then a Japanese fish-shaped pancake recipe; however, happy accidents, mistakes, and a shutdown of the nation's AP Testing Program led to something new. Before we begin, I want to note that this recipe is intended for intermediate chefs. So, I'll try to simplify the language to make it easier to understand.

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Full Recipe:

Equipment:

• Heat-resistant pastry brush

• Microwave-resistant bowl

• Small pot

• Spatula

• Whisks

• Scale

• Plastic wrap

• Metal spatula

Ingredients:

Pastry Cream

• 30g cornstarch

• 2 vanilla beans of decent size

• 2g salt

• 455g whole milk

• 4 large egg yolks

• 30g butter

Pancakes

Drys

• 75g pastry flour

• 25g mochiko sweet rice flour

• 1.2g baking powder

• 1.5g baking soda

• 4g salt 

Wets

• 110g whole milk

• 30g unsalted butter + a little extra

• 25g honey

• 3g vanilla extract 

Part 1: Steeping the Pastry Cream

Add the milk and vanilla beans to a pot and place it on the stove over low to medium heat. As soon as the milk begins to simmer, remove the pot from the stove and let it sit for 30 minutes to steep. This process allows the vanilla beans to break down, enhancing the flavor. While the vanilla beans steep in the milk, prepare a large bowl. Combine the sugar, cornstarch, salt, and egg yolks in the bowl, then whisk everything together. After whisking, you should have a fine, smooth paste.

Image Credit: Shawn Krajewski

Part 2: Mixing the Pastry Cream

First, prepare an ice bath by taking a large bowl and filling it with water and ice. This is a safety measure so your dish doesn't go all cattywampus, as my mom likes to say.  Next, grab the pot of milk and vanilla and carefully remove what's left of the beans. Split them in half longways, then take a knife and scrape the seeds out of their protective pods before adding them back into the milk. After, dispose of the vanilla pods, or as my dad recommends, add them to some sugar for some vanilla-flavored sugar.

Now, this is where the fun (and the pain) begins. Grab the bowl containing the mixture of sugar, eggs, etc., and mix it more. While mixing, slowly add the milk mixture. Do not add all the milk quickly or at once! This will result in you cooking the eggs, which creates weird scrambled eggs. I recommend adding about 2 tablespoons of milk at a time. Once about half of the milk has been slowly poured and mixed, add the rest. Mix everything one last time.

Part 3: Cooling

Pour the mixture you just made back into the pot you used to heat the milk and place it onto the stove. On medium heat, gently whisk until it starts to thicken. Make sure you do not stop whisking beyond this point, or it will burn! When the mixture begins to thicken, remove it from the heat and keep whisking until it gains a pudding-like consistency. Next, add the cold diced butter, and mix until well combined. Once the butter is fully mixed, place everything into a large bowl, and then put this bowl into the ice bath. Finally, cover the bowl of now-created pastry cream with plastic wrap. This will prevent a layer of skin from forming on top of the cream.

Part 4: Making the Pancake Batter

Take all of the ingredients under the "drys" section and combine them in a bowl. Now do the same with the "wets," just in a separate (microwavable) bowl. Microwave the wet ingredients in 30-second intervals to melt the butter. After doing so three times, it should be good to go, even if some solid butter still remains.  Take both the wet and dry mixtures and slowly combine them. To do so, slowly add the bowl of wet ingredients to the dry ingredients until fully combined. Ultimately, the consistency should be similar to pudding.

Part 5: Cooking the Stuffed Pancakes

Image Credit: Shawn Krajewski

Put your pan over medium heat before adding a small amount of oil or butter using your heat-resistant brush. Next, add a dollop of pancake batter to the pan and press it down. Then, grab your favorite stuffing, like chocolate pudding, peanut butter, or the pastry cream you made earlier. 

Place a small scoop of pastry cream into the center of the batter, then cover it with more batter. Flatten it down to make it look like a pancake. Let it cook for 2 minutes before using a metal spatula to flip the pancake. Once flipped, wait about another 2 minutes and then flip it again. After the final 2 minutes of cooking, the pancake should be done! But, before eating, it's probably best to let it sit for a few seconds so you don't destroy your taste buds.

Thumbnail Credit:

https://unsplash.com/photos/pancakes-on-white-ceramic-plate-OWwYniuOyiU