Description
Cream Horns are delightful, flaky puff pastry treats filled with luscious whipped cream flavored with vanilla and optionally almond extract. These classic pastries feature crisp golden shells wrapped around molds and filled with sweetened cream, making them perfect for dessert or a special teatime treat.
Ingredients
Scale
Puff Pastry
- 1 package (17.3 oz) puff pastry sheets (2 sheets)
Filling
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract (optional)
Optional Topping
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder (optional, for dusting or flavoring)
Instructions
- Preheat Oven: Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C) to ensure a hot baking environment that will crisp the puff pastry beautifully.
- Prepare Puff Pastry: Roll out the puff pastry sheets to about 1/8 inch thickness, creating an even surface for wrapping around molds.
- Cut and Wrap: Cut the rolled puff pastry into approximately 1 inch wide strips. Take cream horn molds and wrap each strip around the molds, making sure to overlap slightly to prevent gaps during baking.
- Bake Puff Pastry: Place the wrapped molds on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the pastry is puffed up and golden brown in color.
- Cool Shells: Allow the baked pastry shells to cool slightly before gently removing them from the molds. Place them on a wire rack to cool completely, maintaining crispness.
- Whip Cream: In a chilled bowl, whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Gradually add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract (plus almond extract if using), and continue whipping until stiff peaks form, ensuring a stable filling.
- Fill Pastry Shells: Use a piping bag to fill the cooled pastry shells with the whipped cream filling, making sure to fill generously without breaking the shells.
- Finish and Serve: Optionally dust the filled cream horns with powdered sugar or cocoa powder for extra flavor and presentation before serving.
Notes
- You can substitute almond extract with other extracts like lemon or orange to vary the flavor of the cream filling.
- If you don’t have cream horn molds, you can fashion cones from aluminum foil as a substitute.
- Ensure the whipped cream is stiff enough to hold its shape inside the shells without collapsing.
- For a chocolate-flavored filling, gently fold cocoa powder into the whipped cream after soft peaks form.
- Serve cream horns fresh for best texture; if stored, keep them in the refrigerator and fill just before serving.
