Cream Horns {Трубочки}
These Cream Horns are made with flaky puff pastry dough filled with luscious, fluffy cream and tart raspberries as garnish. This delicious pastry is crispy on the outside with a lovely sugar crust, and nice and creamy on the inside. If you are looking for a crowd-pleaser, this cream horn recipe is a hit every single time!
If you’re already drooling (I am too!), you’ll also love this fantastic apricot souffle tart, these puff pastry berries and cream tarts, and my yummy creamy blackberry cheesecake tart.
Cream Horn Recipe
This cream horn recipe features a thick sugary shell that’s just a tad chewy. Each bite is perfectly crunchy from the sanding sugar on the outside, then your teeth sink into a rich, creamy layer that’s sweet and tart with raspberries. The variation of textures and flavors is what makes this a truly delightful treat.
My recipe includes the sugar crust on the outside. This is an optional step, and you won’t find this step in other cream horn recipes. Adding the sanding sugar will keep your puff pastry cream horns crispy even the following day because even as the puff pastry absorbs some of the moisture from the cream and becomes less brittle, the sugar crust still keeps them crispy.
Recipe at a glance –
For detailed recipe instructions, see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Cream Horn Ingredients:
- Puff Pastry – you can use pre-made puff pastry sheets or make your own puff pastry following my puff pastry recipe. You will need only half the posted recipe for this one. Pre-made puff pastry is faster, but homemade is cheaper and tastier.
- Egg & Sugar – to keep the shells nice and crispy the puff pastry is brushed with eggwash & sugar.
- Heavy Cream – this makes the creamiest, fluffiest base for the cream horn filling. Make sure to use heavy cream and not just whipping cream.
- Cream Cheese – not only does it add a bit of a tang to the filling, but it also stabilizes the cream and keeps it from getting runny. Make sure to use full-fat cream cheese for the best results.
- Sugar – this recipe uses granulated sugar, but powdered sugar can also be used if an equivalent by weight is used.
How to Make Cream Horns
Step by Step Instructions:
- Prep
Preheat the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set it aside.
- Make strips
Cut thawed puff pastry sheets into 1-inch strips.
- Wrap
Wrap each strip around the horn molds overlapping slightly.
- Egg Wash & Sugar
Make the egg wash by combining egg yolks and water. Brush the dough, then sprinkle with sugar and set on a prepared baking sheet seem side down.
- Bake & remove the baking mold.
Bake until golden. Remove the mold out of the cream horn while still warm. Set aside to cool completely before filling.
- Make the cream filling
Cream the cream cheese and sugar together.
Add the heavy cream with vanilla and whip until fluffy.
Lastly, fold in the Cool Whip. - Fill the pastries
Fit a large pastry bag with a star tip and fill it with cream. Twist the end closed. Pipe the cream into the completely cooled cream horns and fill with cream. Finish with a raspberry if desired.
Storage
- Fridge:
The cream horns can be served right away or refrigerated for several days until ready to eat. The sugar crust on the outside will keep these perfectly crispy even the next day. In fact, they will be less brittle and easier to eat the next day. - Freezer:
If not planning to eat within a day or two, freeze for up to a month in an airtight container. Leave in the fridge or counter to thaw when ready to eat.
Cream Horn Molds (3 options)
- Part of what makes this pastry so much fun is the iconic cone shape. These always remind me of an ice cream cone, only way more delicious. A set of cream horn molds can be purchased on Amazon. To get a half dozen molds will cost you under $10, so not a bad investment!
- Whether you use the iconic cone shape or the cylinder tube shape, which actually uses a cannoli mold, you’ll end up with a delicious cream horn. The only thing that I like better about the mold open on both ends is that it’s easier to fill it with cream. The choice is yours, though.
- Before I bought the molds, I’ve used the tried and true homemade aluminum foil cones. To do this, you’d take a rectangular piece of foil twice as long as it is wide, fold it in half to make a square. Then, roll the square into a cone. Lastly, tuck the pointy end of the foil (around the opening of the cone) towards the inside, giving you a perfect open cone.
Pro Tips
- Let your puff pastry dough thaw before you cut it into strips. Whether you make your own or buy store-bought, it typically takes about an hour to thaw from frozen, so plan ahead.
- Coat in eggwash & Sugar. This will give your horn pastry a golden brown appearance and a bit of a sheen. It also slows down the softening of the exterior since the egg wash prevents the absorption of
- Chill your stand mixer bowl before you create the filling. Otherwise, you run the risk of ingredients separating.
- To fill the horn pastry with the cream filling, you can use a piping bag with a star tip. However, you can also use a zip-top bag with the corner snipped off. The easiest way I’ve found to fill these is to open the bag over a cup, so the bag is held open for you. This way, you can use both of your hands to scoop the horn pastry filling in and fill it up!
- Experiment with different flavors! My all-time favorite way to make these is below in the recipe card (with raspberries). However, you can skip the fruit or trade it out for a different berry such as blackberry or blueberry. You can also swap the raspberries out for raspberry preserves or add a drizzle of chocolate, caramel, or dulce de leche to the cones. Make them your own and have fun!
Scroll to the bottom for the full recipe with precise ingredient amounts.
Give these other Desserts a try:
- Apple & Dulce de Leche Pastries – Simple dulce de leche drenched apple treats
- Nutella Puff Pastry Danish – For the chocolate lovers.
- Plum Butter Cookie – Simple cookies with plum butter.
Puff Pastry Cream Horns Recipe – these are the best!
These Cream Horns are made with flaky puff pastry dough filled with luscious, fluffy cream and tart raspberries as garnish
Ingredients
Ingredients for Cream Horns
- 2 puff pastry sheets thawed, but still cold (~about 1.5 hours on a counter)
- 2/3 cup sanding sugar (can be replaced with any coarse sugar, or turbinado sugar)
- 2 eggs yolks
- 3 tbsp water
Cream for Cream Horns
- 6 oz cream cheese room temperature
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream chilled
- 4 oz Cool Whip thawed
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 16 pieces raspberries
Special Equipment
- Cream Horn Molds Note 1
- Parchment Paper
Instructions
How to make Cream Horns
-
Thaw the puff pastry by removing the folded puff pastry sheets out of the packaging and leaving on the counter covered with a damp paper towel for ~ 1-2 hours.
Or make your own: You can also make your own puff pastry dough by making 1/2 a Puff Pastry Recipe (click the link).
-
Prep: Preheat oven to 400°F. Line one 18 x 12 baking sheet with
parchment paper. Set aside. -
Cut dough into strips:
Use a pizza cutter to the pastry sheets into 16 equal strips (8 strips from each sheet ).
-
Wrap each strip around the cream horn mold, starting from the tip and moving up, stretching the dough & overlapping a little bit with each round. Place the mold end of the dough strip side down.
-
Make the eggwash:
Whisk 2 egg yolks and 3 Tbsp water together.
-
Brush & Sprinkle:
Brush each cream horn with a light, but even layer of the eggwash. Tap on a paper towel to remove any extra egg wash. Roll in the sanding sugar.
Transfer to parchment paper, keeping the sugar from sprinkling around. The extra sugar or eggwash will burn as it bakes.
-
Bake for ~18 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking or until evenly golden in color. If they start to burn before being baked through tent with foil.
-
Remove the molds:
Remove from the oven and allow to cool enough to be able to remove the molds while the cream horns are still warm. Using an oven mitt or paper towels can help you handle the hot molds.
Make Filling for the Cream Horns
-
While the cream horns are baking make the cream:
Cream cream cheese & sugar: With a mixer fitted with the whip attachment, cream 6 oz of cream cheese & 1/3 cup of sugar until smooth and creamy (no lumps), 3-4 minutes.
-
Add vanilla and cream: Add 1 tbsp vanilla extract & 1 cup heavy cream. Continue whipping (increasing the speed as the cream thickens) until increased in volume and thick, about 4 minutes.
-
Add 4 oz of Cool Whip and carefully fold it in with a spoon or spatula.
-
Fill a pastry bag with cream: Fit a pastry bag with a star tip. Fill the pastry bag with the filling and twist the end closed.
-
Fill each cream horn with cream. Finish with 1 raspberry on top.
To store:
-
Refrigerate until ready to serve. Best eaten after about 8 hours in the fridge at which point the puff pastry is less brittle, while the sugar crust is still crispy.
Freeze for up to a month tightly wrapped in an air tight container.
To thaw: leave in the fridge or the counter until no longer frozen.
Recipe Notes
Note1: – Cream Horn Molds:
- You can either buy a set of 6 cream horn molds and bake them in batches, cooling the molds in between each batch. Or buy enough to wrap & bake all at once.
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Omg ! sounds absolutely delicious! I love the idea of adding fruit to the cream.
Marina, I just want to mention that you’re one talented lady! Amazing website!
For these cream horns, how could they be stored without getting soggy for next day serving if there is no option to pipe the cream same day? Thanks so much for any suggestion.
I would like to know if you can make the horns a day ahead and fill them when needed the next day. Will they get stale and hard of will they stay light and fluffy?
Hi Donna,
I have made these ahead a day and they were still crispy the next day. For best results, it’s recommended to freeze them in an airtight container until you’re ready to use/fill them.
Hi Christine,
There’s two reasons why the cream might not whip up.
One – if you’re not using heavy cream of correct fat content, meaning if the heavy cream is not at least 33% fat, then it will not whip up. Some places call heavy cream, double cream.
Two – if you’re taking the cream past the ‘fluffy’ point. Meaning, the cream whips up, but then separates into liquid and butter. In this case the fix is simple – do not overwhip. If you just start seeing first signs of overwhipping add a little bit of cream and use a whisk to kind of mix it until it comes back together.
Do either of these sound like a reason why yours might not set up?
Just wanna stop by and give a positive feedback I made these trubochki already 3x they were a hit everyone ate all 50 of them within minutes, love your recipes. A+++++
Thanks so much Ally! Merry Christmas!
Just made the cream horns, loved them! Thank you so much for the information and the recipe… I also made liberal use of mini chocolate chips!
Oh that’s great! You can’t ruin anything with chocolate, good on you for taking advantage of that 😉
Thank you Marina, I made them and everybody loved them ,I am planning to make them again and again
Thanks Mina! I love to hear that my recipe was a success!
Can I choose by making custard instead of cream
Yes, you can fill it with custard 🙂
Here’re cream horns filled with custard that I have a recipe for – https://letthebakingbegin.com/2014/01/boston-cream-pie-cream-horns/
Hi marina what size are the cream horns that you use there’s small ones and big ones which ones are better?? thanks
I think it’s a personal preference, but I have the same ones as you will find a picture and the link to at the end of the post.
Now I am dreaming of “trubochki”. Your presentation skills are amazing! Beautiful presentation of trubochki! Pinned!
Thank you Julie!
My mom and i used to get these to at an old world bakery on main street in my home town. The bakery is long gone but not forgotten. No one makes them like they used to, all natural with real whipped cream. I’m going to try this recipe it sounds great. Thanks for sharing.
I have found that the best things are always made with simple ingredients. In this case it’s just puff pastry and whipped cream (you could use just whipped cream), but it produces such wonderful dessert. With convenience of being able to buy professionally made, perfect every time, puff pastry there is no reason why one can’t make these at home.
P.S. you could replace the Cool Whip (which I am not particularly a fan of) with just another 1/2 cup heavy cream 🙂
Thanks for your comment!
Wow
🙂
they look adorable and sound yummy!
Thank you Dina, they were!