Recipe: Cream Horns

These are alot of work but are worth the effort.
CREAM HORNS
Puff Pastry
1 cup butter
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. ice water
Step 1: Remove 1 tbsp of butter and chill in refrigerator. Put rest of butter in 2 qt mixing bowl and work with hand until as
pliable as putty. Should butter show signs of melting (beginning to look oily) rinse hand in very cold water from time to time.
When butter is pliable, shape into a 1/2 inch thick square. Wrap in waxed paper and chill until very firm in coldest place in
refrigerator.
Step 2: Sift flour, measure and turn into the cleaned, dried 2 qt. bowl.
Step 3: Add the 1 tbsp butter to flour and with pastry blender or finger tips work it into flour until consistency is like corn meal.
Step 4: Add ice water gradually, mixing with fork to form a stiff dough.
Step 5: Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead hard for 5 minutes to obtain a very smooth, plastic ball. Grease ball
of dough, then cut a deep cross in top of ball and place it on dough board, cover with damp towel and let rest 30 minutes at
room temperature.
Step 6: Spread dough ball out by opening up the 4 points made by the cut and lay them out flat. This changes the shape of the
dough ball into a rectangle.
Step 7: Next place the chilled square of butter in center of rectangle and stretch and pat out dough keeping shape rectangular
until it is large enough to fold over from both ends to completely cover and enclose the butter. The shape of this folded dough is
still rectangular. Now roll this folded dough out on a slightly floured board to a rectangle about 1/4-inch thick. Cover with a
damp towel and let rest 10 minutes.
Step 8: Now (being sure to brush off any excess flour before folding) fold one short end of rectangle over one-third the length of
the rectangle, then bring the other end up over the first fold to make 3 equal layers of dough. Now turn this folded dough 1/4 the
way around and fold the open ends over in the same way to make 9 layers. Wrap in waxed paper or damp cloth and chill 1
hour.
Step 9: Repeat three times, the process of rolling chilled dough out to the original rectangle size and 1/4-inch thick, keeping
corners square and edges straight, each time folding into 9 layers as in Step 8 and chilling after each folding. If pastry is to be
kept several days (and it can be), wrap well and snugly in waxed paper and store in the coldest place in refrigerator but never in
contact with ice.
HINTS ON HANDLING PUFF PASTRY
Hint1: Baking sheets on which puff pastries are baked should have a thin film of cold moisture all over them when the shaped
raw pastries are placed on them. To obtain the cold moist film, run cold water on pans then shake off excess.
Hint 2: To use scraps left over after cutting out the pastry shapes, lay on top of the other and fold carefully into a ball rather than
knead into a ball. Wrap in waxed paper and chill. Roll and fold and chill again before shaping and baking. Puff pastry should
always rest before rolling to make rolling easy, and it should also rest after it is shaped before baking, to prevent shrinking. In
hot weather, the resting should be done in the refrigerator.
Egg Yolk Wash
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp. milk
Beat egg yolk well, stir in milk until thoroughly blended.
Egg White Wash
1 egg white
1 tsp. water
Combine egg white and water and beat slightly.
Start oven 10 minutes before baking; set to hot (450F.) . Use about 1/4 of the Puff Pastry at a time. Roll it out on a pastry cloth
1/8-inch thick, keeping shape rectangular and about 8 inches wide. Brush dough with egg yolk wash. Now cut into strips
1/2-inch wide. Roll these strips around metal cream horn forms,* overlapping edges slightly. Lay on cold dampened sheet to
rest 30 minutes. Bake 20 minutes or until well puffed and lightly browned. Quickly remove from oven , quickly brush with egg
white wash, sprinkle with sugar and return to oven to finish baking, about 5 minutes longer. Remove from oven , then remove
horns from forms and cool on cake rack. When cool, fill with the cream filling or sweetened whipped cream flavored with
vanilla if desired.
Cream Filling
1 tbsp. flour
1 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix dry ingredients in top of double boiler. Add milk, gradually and stir to blend, then heat to boiling over direct medium heat,
stirring constantly. Now stir some of the hot mixture into egg and return to double boiler, beating thoroughly. Cover, place over
hot water and cook 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Cool before using.
* If the metal forms are not available, you can make cones out of several layers of heavy duty aluminum foil, folded into a
triangle and then into the cone shape.