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Thursday, September 25, 2008
Farm-Girl Cream Horns
And now, ladies and gentlemen, a brief preamble about my policy on baking mixes... We've all used them in a pinch, and I certainly wouldn't fuss anyone using them on a regular basis - after all, they foster baking, and I'm thoroughly in support of baking activities emerging from all ovens. That said... I grew up in a family where prepared baking mixes were against our culinary religious code. They didn't taste the same as homemade, they were way too expensive compared to baking from scratch, and they were just "too easy" (to fully understand this concept, you have to realize that when I was around 10 years old or so, my family accomplished nearly all of our farm labor completely by hand, simply because using tractors and their various automated cousins would be, yep, you guessed it, "too easy.")
However, growing up as a farm-girl, I also learned to be resourceful. So when I set out this week to bake a batch of cream horns for the first time, I resigned myself to one of the few items I always purchase pre-made - puff pastry. While learning to make homemade puff pastry is definitely on my list of life goals, sandwiched somewhere between skydiving and learning to surf, I was fully aware that a Monday night homework break whim was not the time to embark upon such an endeavor (be that skydiving or puff pastry making).
I had quite a cream horn standard to meet, as well. We are fortunate to live just a few steps away from a tiny, delightful, family-run bakery, which happens to make the perfect cream horns. I brought home some on a whim a few weeks ago, and was absolutely delighted with Zach's reaction as he slowly and savoringly "mmmmmed" his way through a cream horn. Of course, I had to learn how to bake them for him.
So, armed with determination, I set out on Monday night to fetch puff pastry and whipping cream (something, confess, that almost never resides in our fridge! :-). At the grocery, however, I was met with the most puzzling disappointment - there was nary a sheet of puff pastry to be found. Apparently, no one in our county bakes with puff pastry. So, I did the previously unthinkable - I purchased, for the first time ever, a package of crescent roll dough. The newness of such an endeavor is not due to snobbery, I assure you, just the long conditioning of a frugal upbringing...
But I was a farm-girl, and when something goes awry in a plan, you fix it with duct tape and baling twine - or crescent roll dough.
And sometimes, you create something even better (and softer and chewier and more delicious) than you'd planned along the way.
Farm-Girl Cream Horns
1 package crescent roll dough
1 egg
1 T water
sugar
1 1/2 cup cream
6 T sugar
~ Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease 6 cream horn molds.
~ Wrap 1 and 1/2 sheet of crescent roll dough around each cream horn mold, and place the resulting dough horns on an ungreased baking sheet.
~ Whisk the egg with the water, and brush the egg wash across each of the dough horns.
~ Sprinkle each of the dough horns liberally with sugar.
~ Bake the dough horns for 12 to 15 minutes - until golden brown.
~ Remove the dough horns from the oven, and allow to cool.
~ Meanwhile, whip the cream and sugar with an electric mixer on high speed until the cream forms stiff peaks. Place the cream in the fridge to chill while the cream horns are cooling.
~ With a slight twisting motion, gently remove each of the cream horn molds from the dough horns.
~ To fill the horns, spoon the whipped cream into a pastry bag or a zip-top plastic bag with a lower corner cut off. Pipe the whipped cream into each of the horns, filling them as bountifully full as possible.
~ Serve with extra whipped cream for dipping!
"I grew up in a family where prepared baking mixes were against our culinary religious code. "
ReplyDeleteSame here!! But when it comes to working with difficult ingredients (such as phyllo dough and puff pastry!), I say, use the pre-made variety! :0)
The cream horns look deeeelish.
My word these look amazing, Astra! Sadly, as I'm back to being the Diva on a diet this week, I'm going to have to admire them from afar. ;)
ReplyDeleteI also admire your ingenuity in using the crescent roll dough. I don't often use packaged products either - but a farm girl's got to do what a farm girl's got to do!
Cheers!
It's okay to cheat sometimes, especially when you can up with something this delightful.
ReplyDeletePuff pastry is something I mean to try to make from scratch someday too, but there are only so many hours in a day at one's disposal.
Haha I loved your 'fix with duct tape' line. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in a place where there's nothing wrong with cheating if you're short on time or lazy, and homemade is for special days... so I guess to each his own :)
Your cream horns though, my dear, are delicious. They could play a sweet flaky goodness song if they wanted to
I now recollect I used to favour cream horns in my childhood. Well, 'favour' is slightly of an understatement for my then obsession with them. :)
ReplyDeleteYour writing, Astrid. It is so good that I tend to re-read your posts a few times in a row. Continuously!
These look fantastic.I have never made cream horns, and had no idea that there was such a thing as a cream horn mould.
ReplyDeleteVeggieGirl, I'm so glad we agree! :-)
ReplyDeleteDiva on a Diet, I promise a healthy recipe for the next post... :-)
Lisa, I quite agree... If only we could add a few extra hours into the day especially for cooking!
Adam, thank you so much! I love the idea of a sweet flaky goodness song! :-)
Anya, as always, you are so kind and generous... Thank you, thank you!
CakeLaw, I had no idea either! When I started looking for cream horn recipes, I was completely puzzled at first - "cream horn mould whats?" They're the funniest little things...
These look SO GOOD. I was also always curious about cream horn construction - such a mystery as to how they kept their shape! I had no idea that there were molds for such things. Educational AND delicious looking!
ReplyDeleteTina, I'm so delighted that the post was useful in solving the mystery! Cream horns were quite the mystery to me too until recently...
ReplyDeleteMy mom never used cake mixes, but she did treat us to Pigs in Blankets. As much as I loved them, I think I would have loved crescent rolls filled with soft and sweet whipped cream so much better.
ReplyDeleteExcellent idea, Astra!