Cream Horns (Italian Cannoncini Recipe)
Updated May 14, 2025, Published Feb 26, 2022
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Italian Cream Horns (cannoncini) are made of crispy, buttery puff pastry with a luscious, creamy Italian Pastry Cream filling.
You can use Chocolate pastry cream, vanilla, or this pistachio cream filling for these delicious treats.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This traditional Italian recipe is one of my favorites! I love to order cream filled pastries at Italian cafes when I’m home in Italy.
I grew up eating cannoncini for breakfast when my zia (aunt) or nonni (grandparents) would take me to breakfast in Cagliari, Sardegna.
This recipe is perfect for a fancy dessert that is easy to prepare. Wow your guests with this delicious Italian dessert.
Simple Ingredients
These delicious, flaky, buttery pastries with luxurious cream filling are surprisingly easy to make with a few quality ingredients.
- Store-bought puff pastry dough (this is a huge time saver)! I prefer the Pepperidge Farm Brand
- Pistachio Cream Filling:
- Egg yolks
- Powdered Sugar
- Cornstarch
- Pistachios (blended, shelled, and blanched pistachios)
- Milk
- Vanilla extract
See quantities in the recipe card.
How To Make Cream Horns
The first step to making the Italian cream horns is making the pistachio cream. See this post for step-by-step instructions on the best Italian pistachio cream. You can also make the chocolate or vanilla versions.
After the cream is made, cover it with plastic wrap and store it in the fridge until later use. You can also make the cream a few days ahead of time!
Photos 1-4.
Preheat oven. Lay your puff pastry sheets on a well-floured surface and lightly brush all over with egg wash. Cut into twelve ¾-inch-wide pastry strips.
Photos 5-9.
Place the cream horn molds in a shallow dish and spray them with cooking spray on all sides. Set aside.
Start wrapping the puff pastry around the molds. Starting at the pointed end of the cone mold, wrap the dough strips around the mold, overlapping slightly and lightly stretching the dough to wrap about half way up the mold (if you have longer pastry strips it may reach the end). Press the last part unto the mold well to seal. It doesn’t have to be perfect!
Place seam side down onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. Sprinkle generously all over with powdered sugar. (TIP: keep the egg wash away from the mold, or it will make it harder to remove the pastry horn from the mold once baked)
Bake the puff pastry. Bake at 400 degrees F. for about 15-20 minutes until golden brown on top.
Let the puff pastry cool for a couple of minutes and gently remove from the mold. If the pastry sticks to the mold, use a the sharp end of a knife and very gently wiggle it in between the pastry and the mold until it comes off.
Photos 10-12.
Filling the puff pastry horns with pistachio pastry cream. Just before serving, fill the pastry with the cream using a piping bag.
Get the pastry cream out of the fridge and fill a pastry bag with a wide round tip.
Start at the very bottom of the cream horn and fill to the top, finishing with a swirl!
Equipment Needed
This is the CREAM HORN MOLD I use for forming the dough. You can use these molds to make the BEST Authentic Sicilian Cannoli Recipe, although I usually use a tube mold. Both shapes are popular in Italy, and you can find them as tubes or cones/horns.
If you don’t want to bother with this, make them into Puff Pastry filled with Italian Cream.
Pro Tips
Best tips to get these Italian bakery style treats right every time.
- Keep the puff pastry dough cold! Otherwise, the dough will start to lose consistency.
- Use egg wash to keep the shells on the molds. If you skip this step, the puff pastry will explode out of the mold (trust me, I know from experience!)
- Make the Pistachio Cream ahead of time. Since it needs to cool, it will be ready right when you need it!
- Fill the shells right before serving. If you fill them too early, they risk getting soggy.
The layers of buttery, puffy pastry will melt in your mouth, and the delightful Italian pastry cream filling will feel smooth as velvet on your tongue!
Storage Instructions
The unfilled pastry horns will keep for 3-5 days in an air tight container. If you try to fill the horns before you store them, the pastry will be soggy!
You can store the cream in an air tight container in the fridge for up to a week.
FAQ’s
The word “announcing,” means “little cannons,” as it refers to the shape of these horn-shaped cream-filled pastries.
Italian Cannoncini (Cream Horns) are delicious little pastries that are made with puff pastry sheets that is wrapped around metal molds, baked until crisp, and then filled with Italian pastry cream. When I miss Italy, I crave these Cannoncini. If you’ve never had one before, you can now!
The buttery puff pastry is baked to perfection and then filled with a sweet cream of your choice! They are AMAZING!
Try experimenting this with another version that is filled with whipped cream!
If you love Italian Pastry Cream-filled desserts as much as I do, here are more recipes for you:
- Italian Crumble Cake Pastry Cream Filling
- Cinnamon Sugar Baked Donuts Cream Filling
- Italian Crostata Recipe (Jam filled Tart) you can fill this with pastry cream and bake as directed.
- How to Make Italian Pistachio Gelato (Recipe)
- If you are looking for classic Italian Style Cookies try these: Soft AMARETTI Cookies Sardinian Recipe , Simple Italian Wedding Cookies (Anginetti), or Basic Italian Biscotti (Cantucci) Dough.
Try these delicious Italian Cream Horns (Cannoncini) soon! They will make you feel as though you’re in an Italian cafe enjoying a sweet treat.
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Cream Horns Recipe
Ingredients
Cream Filling
- Use any of the pastry cream filling recipes you like: Best Italian Pistachio Cream, Italian Chocolate Pastry Cream (Crema Pasticcera)
For the Cannoncini
- 1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted (about 225 g)
- 1 egg, well beaten (for egg wash)
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
Cream Filling
- See step by step instructions and recipe for Best Italian Pistachio Cream.
- Make the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap, and leave in fridge until needed.
- Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Place the horn molds in a shallow dish and spray them with cooking spray on all sides. Set aside.
- Lay your puff pastry on a well floured surface and lightly brush all over with egg wash. Cut into twelve ¾-inch-wide strips.
- Start wrapping the puff pastry around the molds. Starting at the pointed end of the cone mold, wrap the dough strips around the mold, overlapping slightly and lightly stretching the dough to wrap about half way up the mold (if you have longer strips it may reach the end). Press the last part unto the mold well to seal.
- Place seam side down onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. Sprinkle generously all over with powdered sugar. (TIP: keep the egg wash away from the mold, or it will make it harder to remove the pastry horn from the mold once baked)
- Bake for about 15-20 minutes until golden on top. Let the puff pastry cool for a couple of minutes and gently remove from the mold. If the pastry sticks to the mold, use a the sharp end of a knife and very gently wiggle it in between the pastry and the mold until it comes off.
- Just before serving, fill the pastry with the cream using a piping bag. Enjoy!
Notes
- Keep the puff pastry dough cold! Otherwise, the dough will start to lose consistency.
- Use egg wash to keep the shells on the molds. If you skip this step, the puff pastry will explode out of the mold (trust me, I know from experience!)
- Make the Pistachio Cream ahead of time. Since it needs to cool, it will be ready right when you need it!
- Fill the shells right before serving. If you fill them too early, they risk getting soggy.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
A recipe to love and make often! Classic Italian cream horn recipe just like we serve in Italy.
These are so delicious and remind me of the ones we get in Italy!
Agreed! They are easier than you think to make!