Cream Horns

Instructions

1. 1

   Mix the shaggy dough

   Whisk the flour, granulated sugar, and salt together in a wide bowl. Drop in the cold butter cubes and toss them around until every piece is coated, then flatten each cube between your thumb and forefinger into a rough coin. You want visible slabs of butter, not crumbs — those slabs are what turn into layers. Stir the lemon juice into the ice water and pour it in all at once, tossing with a fork until the mixture looks shaggy and barely holds together. Squeeze a handful; if it crumbles apart, add cold water a teaspoon at a time.

2. 2

   Build the layers with folds

   Tip the dough onto a floured counter and press it into a rough rectangle. Roll it out to about 8 by 16 inches, keeping the edges as square as you can. Fold it in thirds like a business letter, give it a quarter turn, and roll it out again. Repeat for four folds total. The first two will feel messy and crumbly — that's normal. By the fourth the dough should be smooth and marbled with butter streaks. Wrap it tightly and chill at least 1 hour, or up to 2 days.

3. 3

   Prep your molds and oven

   Heat the oven to 400°F with a rack in the center. Line two sheet pans with parchment. Grease 14 metal cream horn molds lightly with softened butter or cooking spray, paying attention to the pointed tip where sticking is most likely. Beat the egg with the tablespoon of water for the wash.

4. 4

   Cut the strips

   On a lightly floured counter, roll the chilled dough into a 12 by 14-inch rectangle, a scant 1/8 inch thick. Trim the edges square with a pizza wheel so the layers are open and free to rise, then cut fourteen strips, each 1 inch wide and 12 inches long. If the dough has warmed up and feels slack at any point, slide it onto a tray and chill it for 10 minutes.

5. 5

   Wrap the horns

   Start at the pointed tip of a mold and press the end of a strip against it. Wind the dough up the cone in a spiral, stretching it very slightly as you go and overlapping each pass by about a third of the strip's width. Stop about 1/4 inch short of the open end so the pastry doesn't glue itself to the rim. Press the final end gently into the layer beneath it, dampening your fingertip if it won't stay put. Set each finished horn seam-side down on the pan.

6. 6

   Chill, wash, and sugar

   Freeze the wrapped molds for 15 minutes — cold butter hitting a hot oven is the whole trick behind the puff. Brush the tops and sides of the spirals with egg wash, keeping it off the cut edges where it would seal the layers shut. Scatter sanding sugar over the top if you're using it; it caramelizes into a crunchy shell that keeps the pastry crisp once it's filled.

7. 7

   Bake

   Bake 16 to 18 minutes, until the horns are well puffed and a deep, even gold. Pale pastry will go soft within the hour, so push the color further than feels comfortable. Let them sit on the pan for 3 or 4 minutes, then grip each mold with a dry towel and twist gently while pulling the pastry free. They release much more easily warm than cold. Cool the empty shells completely on a wire rack.

8. 8

   Whip the filling

   Beat the cream cheese on medium speed until perfectly smooth with no lumps, scraping the bowl twice. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt and beat until creamy. With the mixer running on low, pour the cold cream in a slow stream, then raise the speed to medium-high and whip to stiff peaks, about 1 to 2 minutes. Watch it closely at the end — a few seconds past stiff and it turns grainy.

9. 9

   Fill and serve

   Scoop the filling into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe into one end of a horn until the filling reaches the middle, then fill from the other end so there are no air pockets, finishing with a small rosette at the wide end. Dust with powdered sugar and serve within a couple of hours while the pastry still shatters.

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Baker's Tips

• 1.

  Short on time? One 17.3-ounce package of thawed store-bought puff pastry (two sheets) replaces the homemade dough and gives you about 16 strips. Roll each sheet slightly thinner before cutting.

• 2.

  No cream horn molds? Wrap sugar cones tightly in greased foil, or use the old bakery trick of winding the dough around wooden clothespins for miniature horns.

• 3.

  Overlap the dough by about a third each turn. Less and the spiral gaps open as it bakes; more and the inner layers stay doughy.

• 4.

  Bake and cool the shells up to a day ahead and store them airtight at room temperature, but never fill them more than a few hours before serving or they'll soften from the inside out.

• 5.

  Swap in other fillings once you've got the shells down: pastry cream, lemon curd, or sweetened whipped cream stabilized with a pinch of cream of tartar all work beautifully.

• 6.

  If your kitchen runs warm, chill the rolled dough between every fold. Butter that melts into the flour makes bread, not layers.

Equipment

• 14 metal cream horn molds
• Rolling pin
• Pizza wheel or sharp knife
• Two rimmed sheet pans
• Parchment paper
• Pastry brush
• Stand mixer or hand mixer
• Piping bag with large star tip
• Wire cooling rack

Storage