115 pastry cream recipes

Boston cream pie from scratch: tender vanilla butter cake split into four layers, filled with a homemade vanilla pastry custard, and crowned with a glossy milk chocolate glaze.

Whole wheat cream cheese pastry gives these mini pecan tarts a nutty edge, while vanilla-spiked filling adds aromatic warmth to the classic brown sugar and pecan combo.

Kolache cookies with a cream cheese pastry dough folded around fruit jam and dusted with powdered sugar. A three-ingredient Czech-style pastry that melts in your mouth.

Jam tarts press tender cream cheese pastry around dollops of fruit jam for bite-size, flaky tea-time pastries with golden browned edges. A 7-ingredient throwback for the cookie tin.

Indian-style deep-fried pastries stuffed with a sweet filling of toasted coconut, cream of wheat, almonds, raisins, and cardamom. Crispy golden shells, fragrant spiced filling. Makes 1 dozen.

Boston cream pie with two split sponge layers, thick vanilla pastry custard, and a warm chocolate glaze that drips down the sides. The Massachusetts state dessert built from scratch.

Tender sour cream pastry rolled with apricot jam, walnuts, and raisins into elegant strudel cookies. These make-ahead sweets are perfect for holiday cookie trays.

Quebec apple dumplings wrap whole apples in cheddar pastry, each cored and stuffed with rum-spiked mincemeat. Brushed with a brown sugar and lemon cream glaze, baked golden, and served warm with rum cream.

Flaky cream cheese pastry rolls filled with cocoa, semisweet chocolate chips, and walnuts. No yeast, no proofing, no laminating. Rolled jelly-roll style, sliced, and dusted with powdered sugar for an easy chocolate Danish.

Diabetic-friendly lemon cream pie with a blind-baked pastry crust, tart lemon custard set with gelatin, and a light whipped topping. Bright, creamy, and sugar-free.

Vegan Black Forest cake with whole wheat pastry flour, applesauce, and a kirsch syrup. Cashew-tofu icing replaces dairy whipped cream. Three layers of chocolate cake, cherries, and creamy frosting.

Hungarian cheesecake with sieved cottage cheese, sour cream, and lemon zest in a homemade pastry crust, layered with pineapple and raisins. A European-style baked cheesecake.

Simple sweetened whipped cream filling with just three ingredients: heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla. Whip until stiff in 5 minutes for cakes, pastries, and pies.

A show-stopping rhubarb tart in an almond pastry shell, served with fresh strawberry-kirsch sauce and homemade cinnamon ice cream. Three components, one unforgettable spring dessert.

Classic choux pastry profiteroles made with just 4 ingredients: water, butter, flour, and eggs. Light, hollow puffs ready to fill with cream, ice cream, or custard.

Flaky puff pastry shells filled with orange-scented cream cheese whipped cream and topped with cherry pie filling. A dinner party dessert that looks dressed up but takes 30 minutes.