This homemade waffle cone recipe is quick and easy to make, chewy with crisp edges and has a sweet buttery flavor that’s reminiscent of a sugar cookie! Ice cream cones just ready and waiting to be filled with your favorite ice cream. Includes instructions for making waffle bowls, mini waffle cones. and “taco shells” for homemade Choco Tacos!
Enter the waffle cone maker
I’m in love with a waffle maker. That’s right. I’m professing my love for a waffle cone maker. We got a Chef’sChoice Waffle Cone Express (aff link) as a wedding gift, and I hadn’t even touched it until now.
Not that it’s not always ice cream season for me, but summer is the time when it’s socially acceptable to eat copious amounts of it.
And to do so, I need a delicious vessel for it because bowls just aren’t good enough for me. Why use the thing that’s made specifically to hold food for my food? Psssssh. I’d rather be able to eat said vessel.
If I’m being honest, a waffle cone for ice cream is the only way I want to eat ice cream when it’s not straight out of the pint container.
Are a waffle cone maker and waffle iron the same thing?
If you’re not familiar with waffle cone makers, they’re not the same thing as a waffle iron. So if you have a waffle iron and try to make this recipe it’s… well, it’s going to be terrible.
- Waffle irons have deep grids intended for big, fluffy Belgian waffles.
- Waffle cone makers have a very shallow grid – we want them to easily wrap into a cone and have just enough thickness to support our delicious, delicious ice cream.
If you try to wrap a Belgian waffle into a cone you’re going to end up with something that’s… again, just terrible. But turning Belgian waffles into a gigantic ice cream sandwich? I’m on board.
How to use a waffle cone maker
It will come with instructions and a description of the various settings, but quite honestly it takes some trial and error to find the ideal settings for you. For my machine, about 2-3 minutes on setting 3 is perfect for me.
It also comes with this cone form that makes it easy to wrap the thin waffle around.
The magical waffle cone flavor
Speaking of the taste, let’s talk about the flavor in these waffle cones. Have you ever been to a Jeni’s Ice Cream? I’ve always loved the flavor of their cones because they have a sugar cookie-esque taste.
Lucky for us, Jeni actually published her buttercrisp waffle cone recipe a while back (it’s since been removed from their site), so I tweaked the recipe a little to my liking – specifically, I use vanilla bean paste (aff link) and added ground cinnamon.
You could always use vanilla extract and omit the cinnamon, but my spin on Jeni’s recipe is my absolute favorite.
Ingredients for homemade waffle cones
- Egg whites (save the yolks for another use, like a giant chocolate chip cookie!)
- Heavy cream
- Granulated sugar
- Ground cinnamon
- Salt
- Vanilla bean paste (aff link)
- Almond extract
- Unsalted butter, melted
- All purpose flour
How to make waffle cones
I recommend laying out a dish towel for the process because:
- That waffle is going to be piping hot.
- You probably don’t want to throw your piping hot waffle onto your bare countertop.
- You can use the towel to manipulate the waffle around the form and save your finger tips from certain burning
- It’ll nicely collect any crumbs so you can easily throw them away. Or eat them, either way.
Having the dish towel is also key to the “setting” process. You need to let the cone rest seam side down until it sticks in place as it cools.
You also need to make sure you pinch the tip of the cone closed. If you don’t, you’re just going to have ice cream dribbling all over you. Hopefully I don’t have to tell you… that’s not a good look.
You need to let them cool so that they hold their shape, and my favorite way to do that is to gently place them in these vintage ice cream dishes.
You could always use a different kind of glass, or just let them lie on their sides – I just find this way easy and compact on my counter top. I just stack them inside one another, and I’ve never had a problem.
I like mine to be more brown than golden brown, as it makes them more crunchy than chewy – so I let mine cook for about 2-3 minutes on setting 3 on my waffle cone maker. I also press down on the handle of the waffle maker so that it flattens it a bit more.
If you’d like yours less crisp and/or more chewy, just bake them for a little less time than I note in the recipe instructions.
How to shape waffle cones
Just follow the instructions above (and in the recipe card) and you’ll be golden (pun intended).
I don’t try to make them perfectly shapes, or with completely smooth and rounded tops. Per usual, I let them be perfectly imperfect because it’s way less stressful.
See that chipped one in the bottom right of the below photo? I broke it when I was moving stuff around, and SURPRISE! It still tastes just as delicious as the rest of them.
How to make your own choco tacos
If you’re like me and totally heartbroken by the announcement that Klondike decided to discontinue the production of Choco Tacos, take some comfort in knowing you can make your own!
- Use your waffle cone maker the same way I’ve instructed in the recipe card, but only drop 1-2 tablespoons of batter in the center of the waffle cone iron.
- When it’s done baking, you can place a tea towel or paper towel over the binding of a book, and place the center of your freshly baked waffle cone across that binding to make the shape of a taco. Let it cool in that position.
- From here, you can honestly fill your homemade choco taco with whatever you want, but to get close to the original Choco Taco recipe:
- Grab some vanilla ice cream with a fudge swirl (or make your own) and let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes so that it’s easier to scoop and add to your taco.
- Carefully stuff each shell with softened ice cream, then place them on a baking sheet and put them in the freezer to re-freeze (30-60 minutes).
- Remove from the freezer and dip the tops in melted chocolate wafers, and sprinkle with crushed peanuts.
How to make mini ice cream cones
Smaller cones means more of them! You can get more cones out of the same amount of batter if you reduce the amount you add to the waffle iron – just use 3 tablespoons of batter and you can 8-9 cones.
How to make waffle bowls for ice cream
You can use the same ingredients and follow the same process with the waffle maker, you’ll just need a different form for setting them.
When you remove them from the waffle iron, carefully place them inside a small bowl (gently folding and pressing the interior a little to make it fit) and let them cool completely inside that bowl.
I also highly recommend dipping the edges in melted chocolate – and maybe even some sprinkles!
Keep in mind: You still want to place them on a plate or in a bowl once you’ve added your ice cream! You don’t want to just stand around holding the waffle bowl by the base… it could end badly.
Also, these won’t be as thick as what you’d receive at someplace like Coldstone Creamery or the like – so you could even double up on your waffle bowl and set two of them together.
You know what else I love?
My new Erickson Surfaces photography board. I needed a larger board than the two I have, and I wanted to experiment with darker colors. I picked up their 21″ x 34″ in Cookie Sheet, with Farmhouse White on the other side.
If you’ve seen a similar background in pictures from posts in the past, it’s because I was using an actual cookie sheet. Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone makes a 21″ x 34″ metal cookie sheet, so… yeah.
Can you imagine the oven you’d use that in? ‘Cause I’d want one. Immediately.
Now that you have this waffle cone recipe, what kind of ice cream are you going to fill yours with first?
Try filling it with one of these ice cream recipes:
- Loaded Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream
- Bourbon Butter Pecan Ice Cream
- No Churn Homemade Americone Dream Ice Cream
- No Churn Salted Caramel Swirl Ice Cream
- Salted Nutella Fudge Brownie Gelato
- Oreo Ice Cream
- Gingerbread Ice Cream
After you’ve made this recipe, please consider coming back to share your experience with others by leaving a comment below with a star rating!
Homemade Waffle Cones
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 1 teaspoon pure almond extract
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ⅔ cup all purpose flour
Instructions
- In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter and then set aside to cool.
- Turn on your waffle cone maker to let it preheat.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together egg whites and heavy cream until combined.
- Add sugar, cinnamon, salt, vanilla bean paste and almond extract and whisk until well combined.
- Add melted butter and whisk to combine.
- Add flour and whisk only until just combined and smooth.
- Spray waffle maker with nonstick spray on both the bottom and top grids.
- Use a ¼ cup measuring cup to scoop batter into the center of prepared waffle cone maker, and cook according to the manufacturer's instructions.Note: For my Chef's Choice Waffle Cone Express, I find best results cooking on the Color Control setting 3, for 2-3 minutes.
- Lay a dishtowel on the counter next to your waffle cone maker. Once the round is cooked to your desired doneness, carefully and quickly remove it and place it on the dishtowel.
- Position the point of the form close to the edge of the round with the form resting across the diameter of the round. Use the cloth (to protect your fingers) to wrap one edge of the round onto the form, and then roll the cone forward until it’s wrapped completely around the form.
- Hold the cone with the seam side down, gently but firmly, against the cloth and allow it to cool for 15 seconds or so. While it’s cooling, also make sure you pinch the tip of the cone so that it’s sealed!
- Once you feel like the cone has cooled enough to hold it’s shape, carefully remove it from the form and let cool upright (I like to place them in these vintage tall ice cream bowls I have, or stacked in a pint glass). You can also lay them on their sides on a wire rack.
- Add your favorite ice cream and serve immediately. Enjoy!
Emily
These came out great. I followed the recipe to a T. Used them for “chips” for cannoli dip. They were a little delicate, as they were very crispy. I hope as they cool they’re more sturdy. Maybe my batter was a little too wet? Nonetheless, they were very tasty.
Abbie
Made this exactly as-written. Not an inexperienced baker; I can make choux pastry and rough puff pastry.
This recipe has an extremely high ratio of wet to dry ingredients. Every single attempt simply turned into a lacey, open mesh, while half of the batter ran out the sides of our waffle iron.
I’ll be using David Leibovitz’ waffle cone recipe. His has the same quantity of flour and egg white, without the heavy cream, less sugar (also a wet ingredient), and only 2 Tbs of butter.
The two stars I have this recipe were for the flavor…the cookies this made were flavorful… but they couldn’t hold anything that melts, with their open mesh.
Leslie Kiszka
Sorry that it didn’t work out for you as it’s a favorite in this house and others. Glad you have different recipe you enjoy!
Marty Neagle
I used your recipe to make cannoli shells! I wrapped the warm shells around a wooden dowel and they worked great! Dipped the ends in chocolate, dusted with powdered sugar, filled with ricotta, marscspone, whipped cream mixture, with vanilla, lemon and orange extract, and of course powdered sugar. Yum!
Frank Masters
I am a foodie and since Covid19 hit the US and everything shut down, I started making home made ice cream. So this Christmas, my wife got me a waffle cone maker. Of course the cone roller that came with was not what I expected, so I went on amazon and bought this device: Waring Commercial CAC121S Rolling & Forming Tool. What a perfect combination too.
Perfect recipe minimal ingredients for making 6 waffle cones.
Thank you Leslie
Brian
First time making these and turned out great. I used a pizzelle maker and found that 2 minutes was long enough to burn the first couple of cones. I settled on 50 seconds which turned out perfect. Kids loved them and so did I. Crunchy and set up nice on the cone roller. The cinnamon was a good adder and was happy with the recipe after wanting to make comes for a while. Will be hard to buy any other cones now.
Leslie Kiszka
Yay! I’m so glad that you liked them, and figured out the setting that works best for you on your pizzelle maker. Thanks so much for coming back to share your experience and a 5 star rating, Brian!
Sherry
Why only egg whites? I just got a krumkake maker and that recipe calls for the whole egg. May krumkakes are very fragile and I don’t think would support ice cream. just wondering the difference because I would have thought a whole egg would make a firmer cone
Leslie Kiszka
Using only egg whites makes them more crispy, whereas using a whole egg makes it chewier.
Brenda
These are delicious! I tried this recipe first (thanfully) and had great luck. My iron doesn’t have different heat settings so it was trial and error for a few. A few nights later I tried a recipe from the instruction manual for chocolate ones. The texture was all wrong! More cakey less crispy. Do you happen to have a chocolate version to share? Thanks for sharing your recipe with us!
Leslie Kiszka
Cakey?! Wow, that’s so weird! I don’t currently have a chocolate version, but I just added it to my list of recipes to work on! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a comment, I appreciate it.
Ann
I’m wondering if you could sub out some flour for dark cocoa powder for the chocolate version without too much trouble with the other ingredients going awry? Maybe start with a couple of tablespoons of each and see how it goes? I’m going to try this and will update post.
Leslie Kiszka
Love that idea! Creating a chocolate version has been on my mind, too, so I’m really curious how that works for you – do let me know!
April Betts-Gibson
Made for a sleep-over with my granddaughters. They rate it a 6 out of 5. One loved the cinnamon-she says her family doesn’t like it so they never put it in anything & the other liked the almond (I used Almond emulsion in place of extract & I think the flavor is a bit richer. We all liked them on the crunchier side & I agree a heat setting of 3 and 2 minutes is perfect. I might put just a tad more vanilla bean paste in my next batch.
Leslie Kiszka
That’s so great to hear, I’m so glad they liked them so much! Thank you so much for coming back to leave a comment and rating, I really appreciate you sharing your experience.
Ellen
What am I doing wrong??
I’ve made stroopwafels with my waffle cone maker, so I’m familiar with the process, but this recipe didn’t work at all! 1/4th cup of batter seeped out of the waffle cone maker on the first attempt, so I put less on attempt 2, and then it was just thin and didn’t cook, sticking to the top and botto without getting cohesive.. Try three I turned the temp up and it just burned and also didn’t get cohesive. Attempt 4 I turned the temp way down and left them in for several minutes, and the top and bottom of the waffle cone maker didn’t want to let go, so it ripped. So bummed because the taste of the batter that I snuck was delicious and I bet these would be so good if I could get them to cook. :(
Leslie Kiszka
I’m sorry this wasn’t working for you, especially since this recipe is such a favorite of mine – but I hope I can try to help you troubleshoot. That said, every waffle cone maker is different, so there might be some quirks to your model I won’t be able to help diagnose. And I *really* hope this isn’t the case, but since each of your attempts came out so differently, it could also be the case that your machine is simply failing :(
A few things to check:
– Did you spray the top and bottom grids with nonstick spray? This would help prevent the batter from sticking.
– Did you whisk together the egg whites and heavy cream separately before adding the other ingredients? If they were all added together there might not be enough airyness incorporated into the batter.
– Are you measuring the flour by spooning into the cup and leveling it off? This could cause the batter to be the wrong consistency if it were under or over-measured. Check out this post for more details: https://stressbaking.com/how-to-measure-ingredients-for-baking/
– Worth mentioning is that since most stroopwaffle recipes call for yeast, that batter will behave differently than waffle cone batter.
As I mention in the post, since every waffle cone maker is a little different it can take some trial and error to find the setting that works best for you. I hope that something in here helps, and I’m sorry again to hear you had such a tough time with it.
Frank Masters
You did something wrong, I made them the first time and they turned out 100% perfect too.
Anna
Oooh, yummy! That sounds delish! The first I saw these being made was in Mexico on our last trip. There were guys that made them on those carts and go wherever. Anyway, instead of rolling into a cone shape, they roll them up like you normally would roll something. They had options for filling and I chose Nutella and banana. So as soon as it was done, still on the waffle cone maker, he spread the Nutella, then laid a whole banana and rolled it up. It was delicious. Its called Marquesita.
Ps. I have a regular waffle maker in that brand. It’s amazing! Now I need a waffle cone and a marquesita!
Anna
Leslie Kiszka
You’ve got me craving that now, too! :)
Emilia
Okay, I bought this waffle maker when I first saw this post last year and completely forgot that I had it until I went searching for this recipe again. This is going to be a problem! They’re so good that I ate two of them before they even had a chance to put ice cream in them lol. thanks for the recipe!
Leslie Kiszka
Haha, I’m so glad you like them – even if they didn’t last long!
Lauren
Bills hand modeling is really on point here. It’s almost as good as the recipe…:almost.
Leslie Kiszka
Except that those are my hands, so that’s depressing… lol!
BF
Wonderful recipe! We already had this waffle maker (a gift) and were looking for a new batter recipe. Used vanilla extract instead of bean paste and slightly less than 1/4cup batter per cone. Otherwise, the heat and timing settings were spot on. These tasted delicious! Thank you Leslie!
Leslie Kiszka
I’m so happy that you enjoyed it! I really appreciate you coming back to leave a comment and rating to share your experience – have a great day!
Karin Webel
Hi. Im just wondering if I can omit the almond extract. As I am allergic to nuts. Thank you.
Leslie Kiszka
Sure! Just add a smidge extra vanilla paste/extract instead.
Leanne | Crumb Top Baking
So sorry for your loss Leslie. Losing loved ones definitely puts life in perspective. But I understand where you’re coming from. It’s hard to admit we can’t do it all. I’m glad you’re back with this great recipe. Now I want to go out and buy a waffle cone maker!
Leslie Kiszka
Thanks, Leanne! You really should splurge on it, it’s so freaking awesome.