A puff pastry dessert from Campania that is filled with a lemon custard and topped with toasted almonds.
“Cornucopie” are Italian sweets, typical of Campania. The term cornucopia literally means “horn of abundance” (from the Latin “cornu” horn and “copiae” abundance) and signifies wealth, happiness and harmony. The traditional recipe calls for “struffoli” as filling (small balls of sweet dough that are fried and then dipped in honey and decorated with sprinkles and candied fruit). My version is definitely lighter; I fill them with a lemon-flavored custard (organic lemons, of course!). Lemon zest can also be replaced with vanilla.
The “horn” bases can be prepared with crunchy almonds or with puff pastry. I prefer the puff pastry, one of my favorite crusts.
Find the recipe for Paola’s lemon custard here.
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- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 230 g 8 oz puff pastry, rectangular roll (size 25×33 cm, 10×13 in))
- 12 stainless-steel cones (for shaping the dough (size 10 cm, 4 in height, 4 cm, 1.5 in diameter))
- Unsalted butter (enough to grease the cones for baking)
- Toasted sliced almonds and powdered sugar (enough to decorate)
- Lemon Custard (see link above for recipe)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 °C (400 °F)
- First prepare the custard (see link above for recipe)
- Cut the puff pastry into 12 strips (size 2× 33 cm, 3/4×13 in). Lightly grease the steel cones with some butter. Wrap one strip of puff pastry on each cone
- Bake the cones on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Cook for about 7-8 minutes until the “cornucopie” are lightly browned. Remove and allow to cool. Remove the pastry cones from the steel forms
- Fill the pastry cones with custard using a pastry bag. Decorate the custard with almonds and sprinkle the “cornucopie” with powdered sugar.
Notes
Once filled, they should be eaten within a few hours. Otherwise the dough will lose its crispness.
- Category: Dessert, Dolci
- Cuisine: Italian
