Chocolate pastry cream

1. Measure out the water into a small microwavable cup, and then sprinkle the gelatin over the top of the water.  Stir it with a fork briefly, and then set it aside while you prepare everything else.
2. Warm the milk in a heavy bottomed pot over medium low heat.
3. Meanwhile, whisk the sugar, cocoa, arrowroot

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   starch, and salt together in a small bowl.
4. Add the egg yolks in and whisk to combine everything. At first, the mixture will be very thick, but keep whisking for about a minute and the sugar will start to dissolve into the eggs and the mixture will loosen up. Keep whisking until you have a smooth flowing paste.
5. When you see bubbles around the edge of the milk, turn off the heat.
6. Dribble a tiny amount of milk into the egg mixture and whisk to incorporate it.
7. Keep whisking as you continue to dribble in a little bit of hot milk at a time. This will make sure that the eggs heat up gradually and don’t scramble.
8. Once you’ve mixed in all of the milk into the bowl, pour the contents back into the pot.
9. Turn the heat back on to medium and whisk continuously until the pastry cream just barely starts to thicken.  It’s best to use an instant read thermometer

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   here: the pastry cream is done when it registers between 160 F and 170 F.  If you don’t have a thermometer, notice that you’ll start to feel some resistance as you whisk when the cream starts to thicken, and you’ll see the mixture look a little more opaque.  
10. Microwave the softened gelatin for about 30 seconds to 1 minute just until the gelatin melts into a smooth clear liquid.
11. Pour the chocolate chips, melted gelatin, butter, and vanilla into the bottom of a heat-proof bowl.  Set a fine mesh strainer

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    over the bowl.
12. Strain the hot thickened cream base over the chocolate.  Press all the liquid through with a large spoon or a baking spatula

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    , but don’t force through any solids.
13. Wash your strainer.
14. Let the chocolate sit for a couple minutes, stirring it occasionally until the chocolate is melted.
15. Strain the pastry cream into another bowl through the fine mesh strainer

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    to remove any bits of un-melted chocolate or un-dissolved gelatin.  Don’t skip this step as any bits of gelatin in particular can be a major headache later if you pipe the cream.
16. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the cream. This will prevent a gross skin from forming on the top.
17. Chill the cream in the fridge for several hours or overnight.  If you want to chill it quicker, set the bowl inside a slightly larger bowl filled with ice and a little bit of water and place the whole thing in the fridge. The ice bath pastry cream will be ready to pipe in 1 hour. Without the ice bath, the pastry cream needs to chill for about 4 hours before it will be cold enough to pipe.
18. You can make your pastry cream up to 3 days ahead of time, keeping it covered in the fridge until use.