My easiest fancy dessert!!!

 

Sometimes I plan to write an update on a post only to learn I never blogged about it in the first place.  Such is the case with "cornetti de crema"  I would swear I had blogged all about this culinary learning experience but on searching the blog have decided I never wrote about it at all... 

Years and years ago I picked up this little raggedy box of vintage "cream horn moulds" and they had been sitting unused in my basket  of really cool cookie cutters which are also unused.  But last spring I decided I was going to either learn how to use these or get rid of them.

The first time was a disaster and out of 18 little pastries I think only two were recognizable.  I buried them in pastry cream and berries and vowed to keep trying.

Now they are my favorite go-to fancy dessert and are a breeze to make.  Let me tell you my secrets.

First always have sheets of puff pastry in the freezer.

The first time I did these I cut all the little long strips individually.  Now I use a pasta cutter and I can whip the out in seconds.  Works great.

Next I tried to wrap the strips around the molds and the strips twist and stretch and are a mess.
The trick is not the touch the strip after it is attached at the tip.  The trick is to just let it hang and rotate the mold until the strip of pastry is wrapped around the mold.  This is a VERY BIG tip.....

The next tip is once the mold is wrapped is to give it a little roll with some pressure so all the strips are secured to each other.

The last tip is not to try to remove the mold too soon.  Once baked let them cool with the mold inside..  If you try to remove the mold when they are too warm they will crumble.


Mine are still not perfect but I can whip them out in minutes because I keep puff pastry on hand and when done not have a dirty dish in the kitchen.  You can fill them with anything... I prefer filling them with pastry cream, dusting with powdered sugar, add a few berries and WOW!! But you can also fill them with whipped cream or pie filling or whatever you have in your pantry.  These are for a dinner tomorrow.

I just found a site that had them filled with smoked salmon mousse for an appetizer.  Now you know I have to try that.