Crunchy on the outside, sweet and creamy on the inside with vanilla or chocolate, these Cream Horns are unique and absolutely delicious breakfast or dessert.
Cream Horns are such a unique and fun recipe. The exterior shell is nice and crispy and has a fluffy, sweet cream on the inside. It’s that cream cheese and whipped cream filling that really sets these to a whole new level.
Don’t worry, it’s not too overly sweet, they’re the perfect amount of sweetness that gets stuffed inside the crunchy outside that you’ll quickly fall in love with.
The kids love making these and everyone loves eating them. They’re simple to make, so I don’t mind whipping up a batch for friends and family too.
This is one of our go-to weekend recipes, usually a double batch is require as they absolutely do not last long at all! The best part is that you can eat them for breakfast or dessert.
We love them for both and always eat them for both, they are great with a cup of coffee or by themselves after winding down after dinner.
You just can’t go wrong with these Cream Horns. If you are looking for a fun recipe that everyone is bound to fall in love with and with options, you need this one.
Some of our other favorite pastry type recipes we have on our site include: Cherry Danishes, Cream Puffs and Honey Walnut Baked Brie.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
- You can make both chocolate and vanilla.
- Homemade breakfast/dessert in about 45 minutes.
- Comes together with minimal ingredients!
INGREDIENTS NEEDED (FULL RECIPE AT BOTTOM)
Egg
Splash of water
Puff pastry
Cream cheese
Powdered sugar
Vanilla extract
Heavy cream
Unsweetened cocoa powder
HOW TO MAKE CREAM HORNS, STEP BY STEP:
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line sheet trays with parchment paper, set aside.
- Lightly spray cream horn molds with cooking spray, set aside.
- In a small bowl whisk together the egg and water, set aside.
- One at a time, unfold one of the puff pastry sheets. Use a rolling pin to flatten it out.
- Cut the pastry into 8 1-inch sections, and discard any scraps.
- Starting at the tip of one of the molds, start to wrap a pastry strip around the mold. I like to gently press it together to seal. Place it seam side down onto a prepared sheet tray.
- Brush the exposed pastry with the egg wash.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes until puffed and golden brown. Let them cool on the sheet tray in the mold.
- You will most likely have to bake in batches, so continue to wrap your molds while your batches are baking.
- Once all of the horns are baked, transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- While you are waiting for them to cool, make the filling. Place the cream cheese into the body of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whip until smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar a little at a time until fully mixed in, and scrape down the sides as needed. Stir in the vanilla.
- Slowly stream in the heavy cream until mixed in. Scrape down the sides, then place the mixer on medium-high speed and whip until stiff peaks form, about 1 minute.
- Take out half of the cream and place it in a bowl. Add the cocoa powder to the stand mixer and mix it in until combined.
- Lightly dust the horns with powdered sugar if using.
- I like to use a pastry bag with an open star tip to fill the cream horns. Fill half of the cream horns with the vanilla cream and the other half with the chocolate cream, and serve immediately.
CAN I MAKE THESE AHEAD OF TIME?
Unfortunately, I don’t suggest trying to make these ahead of time, well mainly the creamy part. The shells you can make and prep, adding the powder sugar to them.
But you don’t want to try to make the cream any earlier. It’ll start to melt and change consistency after 10-15 minutes, so they need to be served immediately once you make them.
You can make the shells in advance, powder sugar them, and fill to serve. The cream will wilt after about 10-15 minutes, so they must be served immediately.
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CANNOLI AND CREAM HORNS?
These two desserts look similar, but in fact, are different. Cannoli’s are Italian and Cream Horns are Austrian.
The other differences between these two is that the Cream Horns are made of puff pastry while a Cannoli is a fried shell. The fillings are different as well with one consisting of a whipped cream and the other of a ricotta mixture.
CAN I CHANGE UP THE CREAM?
Yes, we already made a regular cream and a chocolate cream. You can also swap out the extracts to bring other flavors to the filling. If you want swap the extracts, try a strawberry extract, orange, peppermint, maple, or almond extract.
You can also add other fillings, try stabilized whipped cream, chocolate buttercream, regular buttercream, or marshmallow frosting. Really anything fluffy that you like to add, you can try it.
HOW TO STORE:
You have to eat these right when you make them. I don’t suggest trying to keep leftovers in the refrigerator, the cream will change and the exterior will become soggy.
Don’t try to keep any leftover cream either, even in the refrigerator or it will break.
However, you can freeze them. I would suggest filling the shells with the cream and then place them in an airtight freezer safe container for up to 3 months.
To defrost, remove from the freezer to the refrigerator until thawed and enjoy!
TIPS AND TRICKS:
- The chocolate filling isn’t too overbearing, you can still taste the puff pastry shell. If you want a heavier chocolate, use 3 Tbsp of cocoa powder for all of the cream instead of separating it.
- You can also just use omit the chocolate filling if you don’t want any chocolate.
- You can drizzle the puff pastry shell with melted chocolate if desired. You can try melted dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, or semi-sweet chocolate.
- I don’t recommend making these ahead of time, but you can freeze them, see my tips above.
- Feel free to swap out the filling flavors or use different extracts.
- Easily double this recipe to serve more people.
Looking for a tasty breakfast or dessert with a nice crunchy exterior bite and a sweet cream filling? Then you’ve got to give these Cream Horns a try!
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If you’ve tried this CREAM HORNS or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and what shenanigans I’m getting into!
Cream Horns
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- Splash of water
- 2 sheets puff pastry thawed
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- ¾ cup powdered sugar plus more for dusting
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 ½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line sheet trays with parchment paper, set aside.
- Lightly spray cream horn molds with cooking spray, set aside.
- In a small bowl whisk together the egg and water, set aside.
- One at a time, unfold one of the puff pastry sheets. Use a rolling pin to flatten it out.
- Cut the pastry into 8 1-inch sections, and discard any scraps.
- Starting at the tip of one of the molds, start to wrap a pastry strip around the mold. I like to gently press it together to seal. Place it seam side down onto a prepared sheet tray.
- Brush the exposed pastry with the egg wash.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes until puffed and golden brown. Let them cool on the sheet tray in the mold.
- You will most likely have to bake in batches, so continue to wrap your molds while your batches are baking.
- Once all of the horns are baked, transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- While you are waiting for them to cool, make the filling. Place the cream cheese into the body of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whip until smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar a little at a time until fully mixed in, and scrape down the sides as needed. Stir in the vanilla.
- Slowly stream in the heavy cream until mixed in. Scrape down the sides, then place the mixer on medium-high speed and whip until stiff peaks form, about 1 minute.
- Take out half of the cream and place it in a bowl. Add the cocoa powder to the stand mixer and mix it in until combined.
- Lightly dust the horns with powdered sugar if using.
- I like to use a pastry bag with an open star tip to fill the cream horns. Fill half of the cream horns with the vanilla cream and the other half with the chocolate cream, and serve immediately.
Notes
- The chocolate filling isn't too overbearing, you can still taste the puff pastry shell. If you want a heavier chocolate, use 3 Tbsp of cocoa powder for all of the cream instead of separating it.
- You can also just use omit the chocolate filling if you don't want any chocolate.
- You can drizzle the puff pastry shell with melted chocolate if desired. You can try melted dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, or sem-sweet chocolate.
- I don't recommend making these ahead of time, but you can freeze them, see my tips above.
- Feel free to swap out the filling flavors or use different extracts.
Nutrition
Tornadough Alli is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and values can vary depending on which brands were used.
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