White Pastry Cream
- Soomaali
- Qishta Karsan
- Français
- Crème Pâtissière Blanche
- العربية
- القشطة المطبوخة
By Leila & Abdullahi · ·
In many traditional Middle Eastern sweets, a thick cream known as qishta is used. Qishta is a type of clotted cream and has a high fat content and it is prepared using a traditional heating and skimming process. Full-cream milk is simmered for a couple of hours after which it is cooled down. The cream is then skimmed off the surface.
Qishta is used for filling kunafa, qatayef, filo (phyllo) desserts, and it is served with honey and bread for breakfast. In Turkey, this type of cream is known as kaymak and is a popular breakfast dish. In some Arab countries, qishta is known as geymar or qaimar.
This recipe mimics qishta and it is for those who need a substitute either because they cannot find it locally or because they need a lower fat alternative. We tried the cream with katayef and it was wonderful. The butter in the recipe is optional but adds richness to the cream and we do recommend it.
We like this recipe because it also gives us a white pastry cream to use with desserts that look better with a white cream. We used it to fill Oreo tart shells and the colour contrast was very pleasing. To make the cream less thick, we blended the cream after refrigeration. We used vanillin sugar instead of the orange blossom water and since we were not going to use syrup, we cooked the cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar instead of the 1 tablespoon specified in the recipe.
The recipe uses fresh, soft ricotta cheese and the best ricotta is a homemade one. Ricotta cheese is easy to prepare and you can find the recipe here. We used homemade ricotta cheese for this recipe. We also made the cream with store-bought ricotta cheese but not all store-bought ricotta are created equal, some being dry and chalky.
You can use the pastry cream without blending it and some actually prefer it to have some texture. We, however, prefer smooth qishta.
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Ingredients
1 cup = 237 mL · 1 Tbsp = 15 mL · 1 tsp = 5 mL. All are level measurements.
Method
Tap a step to mark it done.
Preparing the white pastry cream Combine the milk, corn starch, and sugar. Stir very well.
Add the soft ricotta cheese and stir very well.
Cook on medium heat, stirring continuously, until the mixture thickens. Add the butter and mix well.
Take off the heat and add the orange blossom water or vanillin sugar or clear vanilla extract.
Blend until smooth.
Sprinkle the top with icing sugar to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate when it cools down.
Comments
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I like your bklavaa recipe it’s very tasty and amazing
Thanks
Hi love ricotta and love your beautiful white pastry creme.
Just wondering if the creme gets thicker and stiffer the longer its refrigerated, as l would like to use it as a cake frosting.
Regards
Miryana
I like it
MashAllah, if you had a book i would buy it!
Thank you!
I made it tonight…thank you for the recipe…I plan to use it with the semolina layer cake recipe, Inshallah
We hope you have enjoyed it. Thank you.
walal waxaan la’ahay farmaajo rikoota inteen ka heli karaa dukaamada ajaanibtaa mise kuwa cadaanka. mahdasanid.
Waxaad ka heleysaa Supermarket-yada ama waad samaysan kartaa. Soo’da waa tan xawaash.com/?s=ricotta.