Mini Cream horns are a very easy, popular, bite size pastry. As long as you have the cream horn moulds which are available at all good kitchen stores the options are endless. These are my favourites! I recently prepared them for my nephew’s 21st birthday party. Prepared with old fashioned mock cream these delicious morsels can be frozen for up to a month before the special occasion. Or keep them on hand in the freezer for when guests unexpectedly drop in. With fresh whipped cream, strawberry jam and fresh strawberries you have a beautiful dessert for you next dinner party. Or why not try chocolate mousse? Children as well as adults will love these!
You will need:
puff pastry sheets
icing sugar
milk
strawberry jam
dulce de leche
Mock Cream:
250g butter
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 teaspoon gelatine
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar, optional
1/4 cup cold water, extra
Prepare the Mock cream first. This will make lots of cream but any left over can be used to ice cakes or cupcakes or frozen for later use. Mix gelatine with 1/4 cup water, stand 5 minutes then heat gently to dissolve. Allow it to cool to room temperature. Beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Very gradually add the gelatine mixture. Once this is incorporated gradually add the cold water and cream of tartar, if using. By this stage the cream should be white and fluffy.
You can refrigerate your cream until the cream horns are ready. The cream will need to be removed from the refrigerator for a few hours to allow it to soften to a creamy consistency. The time this will take will depend on your climate.
Heat the oven to 200C. Butter your moulds well .Dust a sheet of thawed puff pastry with sifted icing sugar then cut into about 1cm strips.
Fold the pastry over the end of the mould wind the pastry around the mould overlapping slightly.
Place on a baking paper lined baking tray with the end of the pastry down so that it doesn’t pop up during baking. Brush lightly with milk.
Bake for 10-15 minutes until crisp and lightly browned.
Remove and cool until ready to fill.
Using a teaspoon or a piping bag place a small amount of jam or dulce de leche in the bottom of the pastry horn then fill with cream mock or fresh. I like to top the jam horns with a red glace cherry and the dulce de leche horns with a choc chip.
Dust with icing sugar and the are ready to serve.
Enjoy the crunchy, creamy sweetness! Mmmmm!
They sure look delicious Marcellina! I remember seeing these cream horns in some patisseries in France – they were so beautiful but I never got around to eating one. Now I can make them myself anytime! 🙂
These look so sinfully good Marcellina. My mum-in-law makes them sometimes and they disappear so quickly. I've never made mock-cream before, thanks for the recipe, I'm interested to try it because it sounds like it will keep better at room temperature than whipped cream.
What a nice and easy treat! Thanks for sharing this 🙂
Gorgeous! I haven't seen these since I was a kid, and now I want one (or two, or three…)! The mock cream sounds really interesting–almost like a buttercream icing. yum!
They look kind of like a cannoli with one end closed. When I saw the pictures I wondered how you achieved the horn shape, of course it would be something as easy as a mould! ha ha. I'm going to have to keep an eye out for them.
http://thefunkykitchen.com
Mmmm, delicious MArcellina. I usually make them with pastry cream, I shall try your filling too, yummy!
Marcellina, these are to die for! I opened your page fully expecting to see pate and instead was blown away by beautiful cream horns! Those put any bakery cream horn to shame – so flaky and golden and love the mock cream!
I simply LOVE them, they looks delicious and beautiful.
Marcelina vegetable shortenibg is fat that is used for baking and which is solid at room temperature, such as butter, lard, or margarine
If you have Crisco in Australia you can use it because it is like the one we have In Venezuela called "the three little pigs" a weird name for a vegetable shortening for it is made with a vegetable fat not from pig's fat. 🙂
I am trying to find a substitute for shortening Marcellina. I found this web page that has a forum about shortening and copha :http://www.cakesandmore.org/blog/2008/08/shortening-crisco-copha-solite-cream-cup/
I havent made these for about 4 years but only made them a couple of weeks ago….I normally use instant vanilla pudding mix with 600ml cream…..Huuuuuuge hit and everyone loves them..they do not last
very tasty and appetizing