Dark Chocolate Cream Horns Recipes

PAUL HOLLYWOOD'S CREAM HORNS

Steps:

• For the rough puff, mix the flours and salt together in a bowl. Rub in the diced, chilled butter using your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add just enough water - about 4 or 5 tablespoons - to bind the ingredients together and form a dough.
• Lightly dust your work surface with flour. Roll out the dough into a long rectangle measuring about 25 x 10cm. Turn the pastry, if necessary, so that the short end is closest to you and scatter half of the frozen butter over the bottom two thirds of the dough.
• Fold down the top third of the dough (so that it covers half of the frozen butter) and fold up the bottom third. Turn the dough through 90 degrees.
• Roll the dough into a rectangle again, scatter the remaining butter over the bottom two thirds and fold as before. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for 20 minutes.
• For the filling, pour the milk into a pan, bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and set aside.
• Whisk the sugar, egg yolks and cornflour together in a large bowl. Pour a little of the hot milk onto the egg mixture, whisking continuously. Whisk in the rest of the hot milk until well combined into a custard, then return the mixture to the pan.
• Cook the custard over a gentle heat, stirring continuously, until it becomes thick and just comes to the boil. Remove from the heat and pass the custard through a sieve into a clean bowl. Stir in the butter until melted and thoroughly combined. Cover the custard with cling film, then chill until set.
• To make the cream horns, heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/Gas 4.
• Roll out the chilled pastry on a lightly floured work surface into a rectangle measuring about 60 x 15cm. Cut the pastry into 6 long strips, each 2cm wide. Starting at the pointed end of a cream horn mould, wrap a pastry strip around the mould in a spiral, with each line overlapping slightly. Place on the baking tray. Repeat to cover all 6 moulds. Brush all the pastry horns with beaten egg and sprinkle with caster sugar.
• Bake the horns in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until they are golden brown and crisp and the pastry has risen. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Once cool, carefully remove the moulds.
• To finish the filling, whip the cream to soft peaks using a hand-held electric whisk. Whisk the set custard to loosen it slightly, then add the whipped cream, orange zest and chopped ginger. Mix to a thick, smooth piping consistency. Spoon the mixture into the piping bag fitted with the star nozzle. Set aside.
• To decorate, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water. Pour the chocolate into a ramekin, then dip the wide end of each cream horn into it. Chill the dipped horns in the freezer for 10 minutes, until set.
• Pipe the filling into the cream horns, then serve immediately.

DARK CHOCOLATE CREAM HORNS

Steps:

• Wrap each cone tightly in the non-stick aluminum foil, covering it completely and tucking any excess foil into the cone cavity. Set aside.
• Make an egg wash by beating the egg with 2 tablespoons of water. Set aside.
• Flour the worktop roll out the pastry to 12 x 18 inches.
• Trim the edges to neaten, then slice along the length into 15 equal strips of about 1 x 15 inches. Then cut 3 of the strips in half.
• Starting with the pointy end, wrap the longer strips around the cones overlapping each twist of pastry by about a third as you go. If you have extra at the top, snip it off; don't tuck it into the cone or it will be difficult to get the pastry off after baking.
• Using the smaller strips, twist them gently and wrap the top of each pastry cone with the twisted strips. Trim any excess.
• Brush them sparingly with the egg wash and then sprinkle with the sugar.
• Lay the pastry cones on the baking sheet (placing any messy ends facing down, and chill for about 15 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C
• Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a golden brown and puffy.
• Remove from the oven and gently remove them from the molds/cones- remembering to hold the hot cones with a clean oven cloth. Cool completely.
• Make the chocolate by melting the butter and syrup together in a small saucepan. Once melted, remove from heat, add the chocolate and mix until fluid. Set aside to cool.
• Spread one tablespoon of the chocolate into each horn
• Add powdered sugar (to taste), skimmed milk powder (if using - This is to help give the whipped cream structure so it doesn't flatten out too quickly), and vanilla to the cream.
• Using a food processor, whip the cream until it thickens enough to hold its shape (this doesn't take long at all so check often).
• Pipe the cream into the horns and decorate with the remaining chocolate.
• If you use the skimmed milk powder in the cream the horns will last up to 3 days.
• If you don't use the powder, the cream should be made and the horns should be filled just before serving.

HOMEMADE CREAM HORNS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Unfold puff pastry sheet and use a pizza cutter to slice pastry into 6 even strips. Wrap each strip around a conical cream horn mold starting at the pointed end. Place rolled molds on a baking sheet with the end of the dough strip facing down.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 12 minutes.
• Remove horns from oven and allow to cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes, before carefully removing molds.
• Beat cream cheese and sugar together in a bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed for about 1 minute. Add lemon juice and vanilla extract and beat until blended. Fold in whipped topping until filling is smooth and fluffy.
• Fill a pastry bag with cream filling and pipe filling evenly into each horn. Dust horns with confectioners' sugar. Refrigerate 30 minutes before serving.