Creamy filling for cinnamon buns

Ingredients

• 250 g (9 oz) full-fat milk
• Seeds of ½ vanilla pod
• 3 egg yolks
• 30 g (1 oz) raw cane sugar
• 25 g (1 oz) cornflour (cornstarch)

Instructions

1. Pour the milk into a saucepan. Use a knife to scrape out the seeds from the vanilla pod, then add the seeds to the milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks and raw cane sugar until foamy in a bowl, then add the cornflour and continue to whisk until smooth.
2. Add half of the hot milk to the egg yolk and sugar mixture and whisk until smooth. Then pour the mixture back into the pan with the remaining milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly, and then simmer until the mixture thickens, continuing to stir.
3. Transfer the mixture to a clean bowl, cover with cling film (plastic wrap) or a similar material and leave to cool.

Image and recipe from Sweet Buns by Maren Thobaden (Murdoch Books, $36.99). Recipe image by Simone Hawlisch.