Pastry Cream III

This is the recipe I used for my mini tartlets. Next time I think I would rather use the Professional Baking recipe, or Ina Garten's recipe. This recipe uses flour and cornstarch to thicken it (unlike the other two recipes, which only use cornstarch). Plus, it became even thicker when I added the chocolate.

Yield: 1.5 cups

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/8 cup all-purpose flour
Scant 3 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 tablespoon liqueur (Cognac, Grand Marnier, Brandy, Kirsch)

Method:

1. In a medium-sized stainless steel bowl, mix the sugar and egg yolks together with a wooden spoon.
2. Sift flour and cornstarch together; add to egg mixture, mixing to a smooth paste.  Set aside.
3. Place the milk into a saucepan, along with the seeds from inside the split vanilla bean. Heat on medium heat just until boiling.
4. Remove milk from heat and slowly pour into egg mixture in a thin stream, whisking constantly to prevent curdling.  (If curdling occurs, pour mixture through a strainer.)  Remove vanilla bean and discard.
5. Place the egg mixture back into a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until boiling, whisking constantly.  When it boils, whisk constantly for another 30-60 seconds until it becomes very thick and it is hard to stir.
6. Remove from heat and immediately whisk in the liqueur. 
7. Pour into a clean bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming.  Place in refrigerator to cool.
8. Beat before using to get rid of any lumps that may have formed.

Variations:

For light pastry cream:
Add: 1/2 cup heavy cream, softly whipped

Chocolate pastry cream:
Add: 2 ounces of melted bittersweet or semi-sweet, milk or white chocolate into the hot milk  (before you add it to the egg and flour mixture) - Susanne's note: I would wait until the pastry cream is finished, and then add the melted chocolate.

Coffee pastry cream:
Add: 1/2 - 1 Tablespoon instant espresso or instant coffee powder into hot milk.

Raspberry pastry cream:
Add: 1/4 cup (or to taste) seedless raspberry puree to pastry cream.

Source: Joy of Baking