Fab Food Friday

Cream Horns with Vanilla Bavarian Cream

I made these cream horns as part of Mother's Day brunch a couple of weeks ago. And let me just say: YUM! They were so good I even took a couple over to Meritt who gave them a thumbs up- even though I used puff pastry.

These were a bit time consuming but so easy. I promise you will never want to buy them from the bakery again - these are that good!

Recipe from Cuisine at Home magazine.

Cream Horns

Prepare:

8 sugar cones

2 sheets frozen puff pastry (use Pepperage Farms, just trust me), thawed and sliced (use a pizza cutter) into 1/2' wide strips (Note: the puff pastry sheets will be in thirds, you will get approximately 6 strips per third)

Whisk together:

1 egg

1 t. water

Roll in:

1/2 c turbinado (raw) sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400; line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Prepare the sugar cones by wrapping each in foil and coating with non-stick spray (no "forms" to buy and you can use the cones for ice cream later!) Cut the puff pastry into strips and form horns by wrapping 4 strips of pastry around each mold, overlapping strips to prevent gaps.

Whisk the egg and water together in a small bowl; place turbinado sugar in a shallow disk. Lightly brush each horn in the egg wash, roll in sugar and place on prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Cool on a rack for 2 minutes then carefully remove from molds. Cool completely before filling with Bavarian Cream.

Bavarian Cream

Heat:

2 cups whole milk

Whisk together; add and cook:

1/2 c sugar

1/4 c corn starch

1/4 t kosher salt

2 eggs

Hot milk

Add:

2 T unsalted butter

1/2 t vanilla

Whip; fold in to:

1 c heavy cream

2 T powdered sugar

1 t vanilla

Pastry Cream

Heat the milk in a sauce pan over medium heat until bubbles form around the edge.

Whisk sugar, cornstarch and salt together in a bowl while milk heats. Add the eggs, whisk until smooth, then whisk in half of the hot milk. Return the egg/milk mixture to the remaining milk in the pan; continue cooking over medium, whisking often, until thickened. Boil 1 minute to eliminate starchy taste and thicken further, whisking constantly. (It may look curdled- whisk until lumps disappear and texture is smooth and glossy)

Add the butter and vanilla, stirring until butter is melted. Transfer to a bowland place the bowl in an ice water bath to cool. (Basically you will put ice and a bit of water in a bigger bowl and place the bowl of pastry cream on top of it. This will cool the cream.) Stir until pastry cream reaches room temperature- about 10 minutes.

Whip the cream, powdered sugar and 1 t vanilla to medium peaks in a large bowl. Fold whippd cream into cooled pastry cream until just incorporated. Cover and chill at least 30 minutes (can be made up to 2 days ahead).

Transfer to a piping bag and pipe into horns.

Feel like chocolate? While the pastry cream is still hot (before you add the whipped cream) stir in 4 oz melted semisweet chocolate until smooth, then cool in the ice water bath. When cooled fold in the whipped cream.

Tip: to free both hands for piping place the horn in a small glass so it stands upright.