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Easy Clothespin Cookies (Cream Horns)

Easy Clothespin Cookies (Cream Horns)

Easy Clothespin Cookies (Cream Horns)

5 from 1 vote
Easy Clothespin Cookies (Cream Horns)
4.6 rating based on 12,345 ratings
4.6/5 (8)
Course: Filled CookiesCuisine: ItalyDifficulty: Medium
Servings

200

cookies
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This is a shortcut recipe for Clothespin Cookies, also known as Ladylocks and Cream horns. It uses frozen puff pastry, baked wound around a clothespin or a cream horn cone and filled with a marshmallow creme filling (see note *, below). This large recipe can easily be reduced (see note ** below for the measurements for a smaller batch).

For an alternative, all-homemade recipe, see our traditional Ladylocks.

Ingredients

  • 3 (17.3-ounce or 490 g) packages frozen puff pastry, thawed

  • 2 pounds powdered sugar

  • 2 cups solid vegetable shortening (or half butter, see note ***, below)

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 3/4 cup milk

  • 1 (7-ounce) jar marshmallow cream

  • food coloring (optional)

Directions

  • Make the cones
  • Thaw the puff pastry. Preheat oven to 450 F. If you are using the old-fashioned wooden clothespins (available here), prepare them by wrapping in aluminum foil. Otherwise you can use the cone-shaped cookie forms (available here).
  • Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until it forms a 12″x10″ rectangle. Cut into 1/2″ x 6″ long strips using a pizza cutter. Wrap each strip around either a prepared clothespin or a mold, moistening slightly with water and overlapping the edges slightly.
  • Bake for 5 minutes then turn oven down to 375F and bake for 10 more minutes. Carefully remove from forms and cool completely.
  • Make the filling
  • With an electric mixer on high speed, beat together sugar, shortening, vanilla, and milk for 10 min (this is not a typo, you want to beat in a lot of air to make it fluffy). Add marshmallow cream and beat until combined. Color with food coloring, if desired.
  • Fill the cones
  • Using a pastry bag, pipe filling into cooled cookies. Sprinkle with sifted powdered sugar before serving. Store cookies in an airtight container. Cookies are best if refrigerated until used. May be frozen.

Notes

  • * You will need something to form these cookies with. The traditional way is to wrap the old-fashioned all-wooden clothespins with foil (thus the name Clothespin Cookies). Some people just use wooden dowels cut down and wrapped in foil. You can also use inexpensive cream horn molds that are made specifically for these cookies.
  • ** Measurements for about 66 cookies:
    1 package of puff pastry dough
    10.5 ounces (by weight) of powdered sugar (use a kitchen scale, or 2/3 of a pound)
    2/3 cup Crisco shortening
    1/3 teaspoon vanilla
    1/4 cup milk
    2.3 ounces (by weight) of Marshmallow Creme (use a kitchen scale, or 1/3 of a 7-ounce jar)
  • *** This recipe uses shortening (Crisco) so that the cream will hold up at room temperature for long periods of time without softening. You can use half butter (1 cup butter, 1 cup shortening) if you like, for a happy medium, but be aware that the cream will be a bit softer so don’t set them out for too long in a warm environment.
  • Our reviewers, below, have posted some great tips!

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Reviews

Name & Location
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Rating
Review
LOVE this recipie! Easy to follow. Would not change a thing!
- A Baker
This is the best recipe. Everyone loves these always a big hit. My mom asked if i could make 8 dozen for people that requested these from church. Will always use your recipe. Thank you
- wendy mankin
I wish it had a stronger flavor so I added another teaspoon of vanilla. Maybe next time I may add almond. Rather greasy...
- joyce
This recipe is very sweet....I use less powdered sugar and more marshmellow creme. I also cook my pastry on a real clothespin ...... the old kind that are round and have the slit in them, not the ones with the wire spring.
- kim
I made your filling with homemade puff pastry for my very first ladylocks. I used dowel rods and greased them once with shortening. The cookies slid off very nicely. My son said they are the best cookies I have ever made. Thank you for a great recipe! I will definitely be making these again.
- Eileen
My Cousin used to make these but it was so much harder (usually the first batch got thrown out). This is sooooo easy and great tasting. My family loves them. My husband cut dial rods for me and I covered them in tin foil. The filling is the best I've ever tasted.
- A Baker
I made these today for the second time and think the recipe is great - although time-consuming, they are easy. I had a total of 216 cookies. I'd like to pass along some tips that made this time much easier than the first time. First I baked them @ 400 degrees for 11-12 minutes....I didn't want to have to adjust the temperature so often. I used 1/2 inch dowel rods and cut them the length of the cookie sheets I was using and then wrapped each one in Non-stick aluminum foil (7-8 cookies fit on each rod.) What a difference that makes in getting the hot cookies off the rods without breaking them. I also used water to seal the exposed ends so that they didn't pop up while baking. I will be adding this to my list of favorite cookies to bake - and to eat! Again thanks for a great recipe!
- A Baker
Thanks for helping me bring back my most favorite cookie ever! My Christmas touch to these was always to split my filling in three and add some Red food coloring for 1/3,Green for 1/3 & 1/3 left white,making beautifully tinted pink & light green filling, to the white I would sprinkle a bit of Colored Sugar (Red & Green) on the ends of the cream filling! It made for a Beautiful festive Christmas cookie tray as well as delicious! I always used clothespins before I inherited the straight cannoni metal tubes not cones and they worked just fine. The old-fashioned clothespins are hard to find these days, you have to get them at a craft store like Michaels and I believe they are called doll making pins, if you search for clothespins.. nada. You have to prepare them by baking the clothespins in a hot oven for a while before the first use so they don't spread during the cookie baking, and I also spray them with the butter flavored Pam before adding the Pastry!
- Sandi
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