Cream Horns

I have to confess up front, these were bought not made!  Hubby and I are supposed to be dieting but we fancied a treat and I reasoned that by the time I’d made and cooked them, bought the cream to go in them it would be (a) more costly and (b) too tempting to stop at just one!  I threw caution to the wind and bought them instead!! 

These are a real taste of childhood for us.  We were both brought up in mining villages, and both our grandmothers had a huge influence on our upbringing.  These cream horns were very fashionable during the 50’s/60’s and only ever made an appearance in my family at the most auspicious family celebrations.  My grandmother used to make them and I can remember staring at the plate for hours, mouth watering in anticipation!  Many years later she handed her cream horn tins on to me for me to make them.  Needless to say, I still have them, 25 years on, and some of them date back to the 50’s!   

Making them is a doddle and nothing could be simpler. 

All you need for the horns themselves is a batch of flaky (puff) pastry.  

The filling is simply jam and double/whipping cream. 

Roll out the pastry and cut into long strips. 

Well grease the cream horn tins and wind the strips of pastry (one per tin) around the horn.  Lay on a greased baking sheet and continue until you have used all your tins.  These can be batch cooked and freeze well. 

Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with caster sugar.  Or, just brush with beaten egg and dust with icing sugar when you serve them. 

Either way, pop into a hot oven until the pastry is cooked. 

Carefully remove the cooked pastry from the tins and cool on a wire rack.  

If you only have a few tins keep cooking in batches until you have made enough or run out of pastry. 

To finish the horns you simply drop a teaspoon of jam into the bottom of the pastry horn, and then either pipe or spoon in whipped cream. 

And that’s it!

Lakeland Ltd are now stocking cream horn tins if you want to try making these.