Instructions

1. Spoon pastry cream into a glass measuring cup a bit at a time. Check the measuring cup frequently to see how much pastry cream you have. Glass measuring cups are better than metal or plastic cups for measuring liquids and semiliquids because you can easily see how much the cup contains.

2. Smooth the pastry cream with a spoon so it's level in the measuring cup. Check the cup again for accuracy. The amount of pastry cream you use doesn't have to be exact in most recipes, because the pastry cream is a filling, rather than a main ingredient. Measure the pastry cream as carefully as you can, but don't agonize over it, unless a recipe specifically demands exact measurements.

3. Slide the spoon around the cup to transfer the pastry cream to its intended use. If you're filling a piping bag, open the end of the bag wide and fold it back by two to three inches. Scoop the pastry cream into the bag. Fold the edges back down and squeeze the end of the bag to push the pastry cream into place.