364 pastry cream recipes

Mini pumpkin pies that bake crustless in a muffin tin with Bisquick standing in for pastry. Cream cheese gives the pumpkin filling a cheesecake-like richness. Twelve individual pies in 30 minutes.

Bite-sized cream cheese pastry cups filled with walnuts, chocolate, and egg custard, served with rum-spiked whipped cream. These elegant tassies are a holiday cookie tray must-have.

Cream puff swans made from choux pastry piped into S-shaped necks and oval bodies, filled with sweetened whipped cream and mandarin oranges. A classic French pastry showpiece.

Apple pie with apricot glaze layers tart Granny Smith apples over a custard pastry cream and finishes with a layer of apricot preserves under the top crust. A French-style twist on classic American apple pie.

Boston cream pie from scratch: two tender cake-flour layers split by a thick vanilla pastry cream and finished with a glossy chocolate glaze that drips down the sides. The classic Massachusetts dessert, every component homemade.

Parisienne fruit tart layers crisp puff pastry with vanilla cream and bananas, glazes it with apricot, then crowns it with whipped cream, grapes, and pineapple. A showpiece French pastry from simple shortcuts.

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.

Rum cream pie with a cooked egg yolk custard, dark rum, whipped cream, and gelatin in a blind-baked pastry shell. Chilled until set and garnished with bittersweet chocolate curls.

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.

Nancy's ice cream kolacky: a three-ingredient Eastern European-style cookie where vanilla ice cream replaces liquid and eggs, creating a tender pastry dough filled with jam and dusted with powdered sugar. A Christmas cookie-tray favorite.

New York-style persimmon cheesecake with a buttery shortcrust pastry, dense cream cheese filling swirled with persimmon puree, and an overnight chill. A seasonal showstopper for fall.

Show-stopping raspberry cream cheese pie with decorative cut-out snowflake pastry top, layered with tart filling and sweet condensed milk cream.

Lobster quiche with Gruyere cheese, sherry, and a hint of tomato paste and nutmeg in a rich cream custard. Fresh lobster chunks in a flaky pastry shell for an elegant brunch.

Sweet potato and pineapple empanadas in a flaky cream cheese pastry with shredded coconut. Tropical dessert turnovers baked until golden brown.

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.

Rugelach with fruit jam are traditional Jewish crescent cookies rolled with cream cheese pastry around apricot or raspberry jam, cinnamon sugar, raisins, and walnuts. A Hanukkah favorite.