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Cream Horns

paula

Surprisingly simple to make and sinfully delicious, cream horns are a very special treat.

One of the reasons cream horns are such as special treat to me is that they remind me of my father. He had such a “sweet tooth.” He would bring home a half a dozen cream horns from a bakery or a store and eat three of them in a single sitting…yet, he never had a problem with weight, diabetes, or cholesterol. I think it had to do with the amount of exercise he got working and some good genes (no, it seems that I did not inherit those genes).

I found metal cream horn molds in a local bakery/candy making supply store before the holidays. They were fairly inexpensive so I had to buy them to give them a try. There are several versions available on Amazon, but I got mine for around four dollars for the set of six molds (you need six for one freezer section sheet of puff pastry).

If you don’t have the metal molds, you can use several layers of heavy aluminum foil to make your own cones. Each horn mold should be 4 to 5 inches in length to be similar to the metal horns.

To wrap around the mold, you can make puff pastry from scratch or use the kind from the frozen food section of your grocery store. The store-bought is much easier and tastes very good.

Here is the simple how to make the horn from the frozen pastry:


 
Recipe: Puff Pastry Horn

Ingredients

  1. 1 sheet puff pastry dough, thawed but cold
  2. 1 egg white, beaten
  3. 1 tsp. water
  4. a little sugar, regular or large granules

Instructions

  1. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. On marble or other cutting board, unfold pastry sheet. Cut sheet using a pizza cutter along the two fold lines so you have three equal pieces of pastry sheet.
  3. Wrap all but one and place others back in refrigerator to keep cold.
  4. Cut remaining third of dough with cutting wheel in four even strips, about an inch each.
  5. Press the end of one strip to another strip to form two long strips from the four.
  6. Starting at the narrow end of the cone mold, press the end of the pastry down and wrap the cone mold with the pastry. Be sure to overlap each layer by about half the pastry’s width.
  7. When you get to the end of the cone, use a dab of water to adhere the end of the pastry to the mold.
  8. DO NOT GO PAST THE END OF THE MOLD. THE PUFF PASTRY WILL EXPAND AS IT BAKES.
  9. Place baking sheet with the two covered molds in the refrigerator.
  10. Repeat the process with the other two-thirds of the puff pastry sheet.
  11. Refrigerate all the wrapped cone forms for 15 minutes.
  12. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  13. Bake pastries for about 20 minutes.
  14. Meanwhile, beat the egg white and adding water.
  15. Brush pastry tops with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.
  16. Continue baking another 5 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
  17. Allow to cool slightly before removing mold from the center of the horn.
  18. Then, cool completely on a wire rack.
  19. Fill with pastry cream, pudding, fruit or other filling of your choice. It is easiest to use a pastry bag to fill the horns.

Copyright © 2012.
Recipe by Paula, A Simple Home Cook.

 


For the cream filling, you could use the same as in a cream puff or for a whiter, more standard looking filling you could use the following recipe. Keep in mind, both of these recipes are made with real cream and need to be kept refrigerated. They also may make the puff pastry horn soggy, so it is best not to fill them too long before they are to be consumed.

 
Recipe: Cream Horn Filling

Ingredients

  1. 8 oz. heavy whipping cream
  2. 1/4 c. confectioner’s sugar
  3. 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  4. 1/2 tsp. almond extract or to taste

Instructions

  1. Beat cream until it is a little fluffy.
  2. Add sugar and beat until stiff. Don’t over beat or else you’ll have butter.)
  3. Fold in extracts.
  4. Put into a pastry bag (disposable without a tip works great) to fill cooled horns.

Copyright © 2012.
Recipe by Paula, A Simple Home Cook.

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