I am so excited to share this recipe for Mardi Gras cream horns dessert with you! Not long after I got my cream horn cones, I envisioned these pretty little things for Mardi Gras. They are inspired by the party horn emoji. Yes, I am inspired by emojis sometimes.
I ordered cream horn molds late last year when I was looking for inspiration in the kitchen. They were a suggested item on Amazon. I had never had a cream horn from a bakery, but I do love a good cannoli, and these seem like puffier cannoli with one end rolled up.
These are a specialty item to order. It's not something that everyone just has in the kitchen. But it's fun, inexpensive, and doesn't take up a lot of space. I'm excited to find more uses for the cream hold molds. Perhaps taco cones or tiny ice cream cones are in order?
Of course, sprinkles are involved, and not just because I still have a pound of Magic Unicorn sprinkles from Beautiful Briny Sea! Mostly because you know, festive.
These can be a little drawn out to make, I'm not gonna lie. But there are three places you can pause in this recipe and come back to finish it later. I noted these pause points if you know you won't be partying in less than a day. I stopped after baking the horns, then did everything else in one swoop, but I definitely crashed in the recliner for a little while afterwards! Then I ate one, which is why the recipe makes six, but you only see five in the photos.
This recipe is very easy to double if you need more than six cream horns! It's also very customizable depending on your sprinkles and color preferences.
Mardi Gras Cream Horns
Equipment
- 5" cream horn molds
Ingredients
Cream Horns
- 1 sheet puff pastry thawed per package instructions
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons water
Chocolate Ganache
- 4 ounces chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 ½ tablespoons light corn syrup
- multi-colored sprinkles of choice
Multi Colored Drizzle
- 6 ounces white chocolate chips
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- food coloring in yellow, green, purple
Cream
- ⅔ cup heavy whipping cream
- 4 tablespoons powdered sugar
- ½ tablespoon powdered milk (good for stabilizing the cream, not needed if these will be served and eaten within an hour or so)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Make the Cream Horns
- Thaw the puff pastry at room temperature until it is flexible (about 20 minutes).
- Use a pizza cutter to cut it into ½" inch strips.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Put a small ramekin of water within reach of your work area. Starting at the tip, wrap one strip of pastry around the mold, slightly overlapping as you wind your way up. I needed 2 strips per horn. Use a dab of water on the pastry to adjoin the new strip, and to attach the end of the last strip to the last wind around the pastry. Do not overlap the opening, this will make them difficult to remove.
- Set the pastry wrapped horns on a baking sheet prepared with a Silpat or parchment paper.
- Mix the egg and water in a small bowl and brush onto the puff pastry. You don't need to worry about the bottoms.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool completely. Gently remove the molds from the puff pastry, they should slide out easily.
- You can put these in an airtight container at this point to finish the next day if you like.
Make the Chocolate Ganache
- Put the the corn syrup and butter in a small pot over medium heat until melted.
- Remove from heat and add in chocolate chips. Stir until melted.
- Put sprinkles in a small, wide plate or bowl.
- Dip the wide end of each horn in the chocolate, then gently dip in the sprinkles. Roll around in the sprinkles if needed. Set aside on a large cutting board in a line.
Make the Multi Colored Drizzle
- Put the white chocolate chips in a heat safe bowl or Pyrex measuring cup.
- Heat the heavy cream over medium heat, watch it carefully it will happen fast with this small amount of liquid. Do not let it boil, and when the first signs of bubbling appear, remove from heat and pour over the white chocolate chips. Stir until smooth, this may take longer than it seems like it should.
- Once smooth, divide into 3 ramekins and use food coloring to make a green, yellow, and purple drizzle. Stir carefully but work fast.
- Use a spoon to drizzle each color on the puff pastry cones. Heat the ramekins in the microwave for 4-5 seconds right before using if it's thickening up. Go in whatever color order you like, and drizzle lightly since you can always add more, but you can't take away what falls off the spoon. At this point, you can put these in an airtight container and finish the last step the following day, or continue on.
Make the Cream
- Mix the cream ingredients together and use the whisk attachment on a stand mixer, or a blender until light and fluffy.
- Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Gently insert the tip into each cream horn and gently squeeze to fill the cone with cream, pulling out as you feel the horn filling up. Push in gently at the end to attempt to make a pretty star shape. This may not go well, but it might.
- The cream horns are now finally ready. If you used the powdered milk, the cream will not deflate and these can be eaten within 4 days. Keep the refrigerated, or eat immediately. Happy Mardi Gras!
Looking for more Mardi Gras themed desserts? Try a fake king cake, Mardi Gras jello shots, and beignets!