In a medium saucepan, heat the milk over medium-low heat just until it’s steaming. Then, turn heat down to low until ready to use.

In a large bowl add the egg yolks, sugar, salt, vanilla and cornstarch and whisk until combined and a pale-yellow color.

Add in ¼ of the heated milk while stirring vigorously. Then, add the rest in and stir to combine.

Transfer the mixture to the saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat and cook for 8-12 minutes, whisking continuously, until the mixture is thick and soft peaks form.

Remove the pastry cream from the heat and transfer it to a bowl. Add in the butter and mix to combine. Place plastic wrap right on top of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming. Chill it in the fridge until completely cold.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Then set aside.

In a large bowl cream together the butter and granulated sugar together with an electric mixer on high speed until fluffy, about two minutes.

Add in the egg and vanilla and mix on medium speed until pale in color and fluffy, 1-2 minutes.

Slowly add in the dry ingredients. Mix on low speed just until the dough pulls together.

Scoop the dough into balls with a large cookie scoop. Roll into balls.

Add sugar to a small bowl, then roll each cookie dough ball in sugar.

Place the dough on to parchment-lined cookie sheets and slightly flatten each ball.

Bake the cookies for 9-10 minutes, then let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer the baked cookies to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Transfer the pastry cream to a piping bag fit with a small circular tip. Once the cookies are cooled, pipe pastry cream on top of each cookie.

Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of sugar over each and use a kitchen torch to brûlée the sugar until it is golden brown.

Let the cookies cool for 10 minutes after torching, then enjoy!