Prepare a shallow bowl with a strainer set over it and set aside.

A quick aside - typically with powdered gelatin, you’d bloom it in water separately and add it in later. I tweak this method by allowing it to bloom with the milk in the initial step - by suspending the gelatin with the sugar and cornstarch, you shouldn’t see any lumps. Another reason one might bloom gelatin separately is that it loses its strength when boiled for a considerable length of time, but this pastry cream will only be at a rolling simmer for about a minute. I originally developed this method because I hate fussing about with blooming powdered gelatin and I’m a bit lazy about it. I’ve never noticed any ill effects when doing it this way and so I’ve never looked back. If you’re not using gelatin just ignore all this and proceed with the next step.

Place the pot over low-to-medium heat and cook, whisking all the while, until the chicory pudding has thickened, and you begin to see fat, rolling bubbles simmering across the surface. Continue to cook and whisk vigorously for an additional one minute. Remove from the heat and taste your pudding - you shouldn’t be able to taste the powdery finish of cornstarch - if you do, you may need to cook for an additional 20 seconds or so. Take care not to overcook at this stage - we cook the pastry cream for a minute because any longer can weaken the bonds of cornstarch that we've developed, and result in a looser (or curdled) pudding.

Whisk in the butter until totally incorporated, and strain the pudding into the prepared dish. Press plastic wrap directly to the surface of the pudding and refrigerate until totally chilled.

When the pudding has cooled completely, put the heavy cream into a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and whip until it achieves loose peaks. Add the chilled pastry cream to the mixer and whisk at high speed until it’s fully incorporated into the whipped cream, about 15 to 20 seconds or so. The result will be a beautiful coffee-colored, voluptuous cream with a velvety finish. Chill until ready to assemble your parfaits.

Place all of the ingredients in a small non-reactive pot and simmer over medium heat until the prunes are very soft and the liquid has reduced and taken on a slightly syrupy consistency, about three to four minutes. You should be able to easily halve the prunes with a wooden spoon, but you don’t want to simmer away all of the liquid. Before blending your butter, you can pull six syrupy prunes from the liquid and set them aside for garnish, if you like. Tip the remaining prune mixture into a blender and blend until very smooth (I use a magic bullet). Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Chocolate wafer cookie crumbs, optional

Spoon or pipe the chicory diplomat cream and the prune butter into sundae glasses or mason jars, alternating the two to create a striated effect. This recipe will make about six servings, depending on the size glass you’re using. Top with the brown sugar whipped cream. The parfaits can be assembled up to a day ahead sans the brown sugar whip, or up to two hours ahead once garnished with the cream. If you’re folding in chocolate wafer crumbs, sprinkle them in between the layers or on top.