Cream Horns

 

This week's bake are Cream Horns from Tereza Alabanda of the Pastry Maestra! They are homemade puff pastry horns, filled with Creme Diplomate (pastry cream & whipped cream) and dusted with powdered sugar! 

Cream horns originated in Vienna, Austria. It's worth noting that there are two comparable desserts with German names. Schaumrollen is straight tubes of puff pastry that are open on both sides, and the form used to produce these is the same mould used to make Italian cannoli. Schaum, which means meringue in German, implies that these pastries were filled with meringue.

The other dessert is called Schillerlocken, and it is the German word for cream horns, or cream rolls.   The dish was named after Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805), a German poet, philosopher, historian, and dramatist. It is unknown whether Schiller loved cream horns or not, but there is a painting of the great poet, painted by classicist Ludovike Simanowiz, in which he has gorgeous, blond, and immaculate curls.

Folk lore has it that it was one of the many things that Queen Mary Antoinette was very fond of, and even had it as part of her holiday home where she would often have her children fill the horns.

Here is this week’s recipe:

Cream Horns Recipe

by: Tereza Alabanda, The Pastry Maestra

Puff Pastry Horns

Puff Pastry 500g (1.1lbs)

One egg (for egg wash)

Granulated sugar (optional)

Crème Diplomate

Milk 300g (10.6oz)

Egg yolks 60g (2.1oz or 3 medium egg yolks)

Sugar 50g (1.8oz)

Flour 25g (0.9oz)

Corn starch 20g (0.7oz)

Vanilla powder

Whipping cream 300g (10.6oz)

Directions

1. Roll out your puff pastry to make a large, 3mm (1/8“ thick rectangle, and cut 2.5cm (1” wide strips.

2. Wrap each strip around the mold, starting from the tip of the mold towards the wide end, and make sure that the dough overlaps at the edge.

3. Brush them with egg wash, and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Put the horns in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

4. Bake horns at 200° (400°) for approximately 15 minutes, until nicely golden.

Leave them to cool, and then remove the molds.

5. While the horns are cooling down, make crème patissière. Heat up the milk, vanilla powder and half of the sugar in a saucepan. Whisk the egg yolks with the rest of the sugar, and add sifted flour and corn starch. Temper the yolk mixture with hot milk and put everything back in the pan. Cook the cream, whisking vigorously, until it thickens and start boiling. Allow it to boil for 2 minutes and then pour it into a clean bowl. Cover crèe patissièe with a plastic foil so it touches the surface of the cream. Leave it to cool down completely.

6. When crèe patissièe cools down, work it with a whisk. Whip the cream to soft peaks and fold it in crèe patissièe. Now you have made crèe diplomate.

7. Fill your cream horns immediately, sprinkle them with some powdered sugar, and leave them in the fridge to cool down for a couple of hours.

Here are some pictures from the bake:

Have a great day !