Pastry Cream and Peaches -- for breakfast

   I know... I'm doing this all backwards.  The berry tart I made, with a thin layer of vanilla pastry cream beneath blueberries and raspberries, should come first; not what I did with the left-over pastry cream.  But this was so good!  Another proven case of -- the simplest turns out to be the best.  I've been in my kitchen non-stop during the "French Boy" visit and will have a slew of recipes and photos of what we ate during his week with us.  For breakfast one morning, I took the pastry cream left-over from the tart I made the night before (about 1 1/3 cups) and  folded in ripe, fragrant, diced peaches (about 2).  We ate it along with toasted bread and French salted butter.  The peaches and pastry cream would also be fantastic with a good granola on top.

                                    Crème Pâtissière (Pastry Cream)
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1.  Blend one cup of the milk and the cream in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
2.  As the mixture is heated, put the egg yolks and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat until pale yellow.  Add the cornstarch to the yolk mixture and beat well.  Add the remaining one-half cup of milk and beat until blended.
3.  When the milk and cream mixture is at the boil, remove from the heat.  Add the yolk mixture, beating rapidly with a wire whisk.
4.  Return to the heat and bring to the boil, stirring constantly with the whisk.  When thickened and at the boil, remove from the heat.  Add the vanilla and let cool, stirring occasionally.
YIELD:  About two and one-quarter cups.