Cream Horns With Creme Chantilly

My first attempt at proper patisserie wasn’t as scary as I had imagined.  It was a technical and methodical process which was surprisingly quite calming – I caught myself humming once or twice.  It was actually quite a pleasant overall experience.  Especially as they turned out pretty good.

I first saw these moulds in my local TK Maxx store.  I love prowling around this store for unique and sometimes the most irreverent baking equipment.  You don’t realise you need a lime squeezer, egg slicer, egg white separator, avocado holder and an elongated fish slice until you see one.  Surprisingly I use all these fairly regularly now that I have them, especially the lovely long fish slice.

These moulds caught my eye because I had been wanting to try something more on the patisserie side rather than cake for a while now and I know that whipped cream or crème Chantilly (the traditional filling for cream horns) is a favourite with my folks.  I always have puff pastry in the freezer so thought it couldn’t be that hard.

And it wasn’t.  It was a bit fiddly getting the strips of pastry onto the moulds but once you get the hang of it things go pretty smoothly.  I didn’t use egg wash, just some water to make them adhere once on the moulds.  Once the strips are on they are wetted with some water on a pastry brush then sprinkled with granulated sugar (I used Demerara too).

These look like a forest of golden fir trees.

I stood them up in the oven which might not have been such a good idea as the weight of the pastry made it sink as they baked and puffed up.  

I later looked online at tutorials (I know I should have done this before making them) and they had the moulds lying down when placed in the oven. 

You’d think I would have learned my lesson and do this the second time I tried these, but I just wanted the puff to be even all over and not flat on the side which would be lying down, so I didn’t.  I thought I would just make the pastry strips stick better by pressing down on them more firmly.  Unfortunately this didn’t work and yet again there were some moulds on which the pastry sank down.

The next time I’m keeping these on their sides in the oven.

After these cooled I spooned in a little raspberry jam then piped in some crème Chantilly – which was so much fun.  Again I have to mention that making these is a very enjoyable process. Eating them even more so.

I think the combination of raspberry and crème Chantilly is an excellent one with the puff pastry but next time I want to try these lined with some melted chocolate or ganache and with chocolate flavoured whipped cream.  Hmmm.

Cream Horns with Crème Chantilly

(makes about 10)

·         500g puff pastry

·         Granulated or Demerara sugar for sprinkling

·         600ml double cream

·         1 vanilla pod, scraped and seeded

·         4 tbsp icing sugar (or more/less to taste)

·         Raspberry jam (about half a jar)

Prepare about 10 cream horn moulds by rubbing them with a little butter.

Roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle about – you will be cutting one inch strips from this so try to judge it by this.

Slice the rectangle lengthways into roughly one inch strips.  Take the mould and wrap the strip around it making sure the strip is overlapping itself as you go down the mould.

Once all the strips have been used, wet the pastry on the moulds with water on a pastry brush.  Then, holding it over a large plate or tray (to catch the sugar), drizzle the sugar over the pastry so that it is evenly coated.

Place on a baking tray and bake at 200 C for about 30-35 minutes.  Once out of the oven, allow to cool on the tray.

To de-mould these, squeeze the mould slightly so that the pastry case pops away from it.  The moulds for cream horns should have this flexibility inbuilt to allow this.

Drizzle in some seedless raspberry jam with a teaspoon, or in a piping bag fitted with a narrow nozzle.  Try to spread the jam all over the inside and not too thickly – there shouldn't be so much that it drizzles out.

Whip the cream with the vanilla pod a little.  Add in the icing sugar and whip until medium-stiff peaks – make sure not to over whip and turn the cream into butter (I find that once you’ve got to the stage where the cream is starting to peak, stop using an electric whisk and do it gently by hand so that you have more control and don’t over-whisk).

Scoop the cream into a large piping bag fitted with a medium star nozzle (not really necessary if you don’t have one) and pipe into the pastry cases.

Banana, Caramel and Chocolate Ganache Tart

Admittedly this wasn’t the prettiest of tarts I’ve had but God was it tasty!

I still have that problem of surplus shortcrust pastry in the freezer so this was another sweet way of using it up.

Please do not do what I did and cut the pastry before putting it into the oven.  The rolled out pastry should hang over the sides of the flan tin and this extra should be trimmed off after it has been baked because pastry does and will shrink in the oven.

I know this.  I really do but I still cut it. Why?  Because I’m greedy.  That’s why.  I wanted the extra bits of pastry to make into cheesy twists, that’s why.  And they were so nice and cheesy that it was worth it.  Almost.

Try not to trim the pastry until after it’s baked.  Unless you’re like me and can’t resist cheesy twists.

This is a very easy tart to make but as with most tarts, a bit ‘stagey’.  You have to blind bake the pastry first, allow it to cool slightly then pour in the ganache and allow it to set before you can start layering on the bananas and caramel. 

Everything came from a tub.  Including the caramel and even, I admit, the crème Chantilly which is something I make at home often as its one of the best ways to utilise a vanilla pod.  But again this was rushing against time as I was taking this over to a relative’s house for dessert after dinner.  In situations like that convenience wins every time for me.  But do be careful and mindful of my advice on the pastry, it should really be trimmed after being baked.

This tart is very satisfying with its combination of fresh bananas and luxurious chocolate.  I love the taste and smell of freshly sliced bananas, there is something so refreshing but sweet about it.  I deliberately made the ganache sweet by using half milk chocolate because the shortcrust pastry I was using was the unsweetened kind.  The ganache is also made with single cream which is why the ratio of chocolate needed to be more than the cream otherwise it just wouldn’t set very well.  There’s almost a saucy consistency to the ganache at room temperature which is why it is best to chill it well before adding the bananas.

Banana, Caramel and Chocolate Ganache Tart

·         500g shortcrust pastry

·         300ml single cream

·         200g dark chocolate

·         200g milk chocolate

·         2 bananas, chopped into slices diagonally

·         4 tbsp caramel, from a bottle or homemade (whatever you have to hand)

·         500g crème Chantilly, from a tub (or made by mixing together 500g double cream, one vanilla pod and 50g icing sugar)

Preheat oven to 200C, grease your tart tin.  I used a 14 x 4.5” (36 x 12cm) rectangular tin but you can also use a standard 9” round tin.

Roll the pastry out to roughly the shape of your tart tin.  Make sure it is not too thick, about 3-5mm is about ok and also try to make it consistently thick throughout.

Line your tart tin with the pastry, allow the extra pastry to ‘dangle’ over the edges of the tin but don’t trim to size just yet.  If the pastry is really excessively more than the tin and difficult to handle then cut it a little so that it is easier to manage. 

Prick the base all over with a fork.  Line with greaseproof paper or foil, fill with baking beans (or rice) and bake for about 20 minutes, then remove the baking beans and foil and bake for another 15 minutes until done (remember that this is the only baking stage so make sure your pastry is properly done and not raw – if it needs another 10 minutes then bake it further).  Allow to cool.

Make the ganache by breaking up the chocolate into pieces and placing in a medium bowl, then bringing the single cream to just before a boil.  When you start to see the bubbles on the edge, take the cream off the heat and pour over the chocolate.  Leave for a minute to allow the cream to heat the chocolate.  Then, using a smaller whisk if you have one, gently start stirring the mixture from the middle.  Don’t use very large or vigorous motions just yet.  Let the chocolate and cream emulsify with gentle small circles, keeping to the middle of the bowl, before whisking properly.  Allow to cool slightly.

Pour the ganache into the pastry case and chill in the fridge for about 2 hours (I put mine in the freezer for about 40 minutes).

Slice the bananas and place them over the now set ganache.  Drizzle over the caramel, then spoon or pipe over the crème Chantilly.