These homemade waffle cones are quick and easy to make, chewy with crisp edges and have 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.
Quick personal update
Feel free to scroll down if you’re not interested and just want to get to the good stuff!
Things have been tough around here the last few weeks. A couple people I cared very much about passed away, both very suddenly.
It’s hard to get your head back on straight when you lose good people and start thinking about your own mortality. You do that thing where you reevaluate what’s important vs. what isn’t, and you try to take the time to be alone and grieve.
But I ended up having to do a week long business trip, and then ran a 5K, and then we had company for two weeks (which was a good distraction, tbh). And then of course just needing to go to work, make meals, give a fussy cat his medication twice a day, keep up with getting exercise, remembering to drink water and take a shower… all the little things end up feeling like a lot.
Sadly, this blog went on the back burner during all that. I didn’t do any baking, I didn’t take any photos, I didn’t even do any recipe brainstorming. Nothing.
But now I’m back, and today we’re going to take about something I love to turn things around.
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.
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 waffleiron 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 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.
Tips for making 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 coneclosed. 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 minutes on setting 3 on my waffle cone maker.
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.
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 actualcookie 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.
Anyway, back to the waffle cones.
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.
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, 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.
Now that you have the recipe, what kind of ice cream are you going to fill yours with first?
Try filling it with one of these ice cream recipes:
After you’ve made this recipe, please leave a comment below with a rating – and if you came from Pinterest, add a photo to the Pin of what you make to the pin to share your experience!
These homemade waffle cones are quick and easy to make, chewy with crisp edges and have 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.
In a small pan 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(aff link) on both the bottom and top grids.
Use a 1/4 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 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(aff link).
Add your favorite ice cream and serve immediately. Enjoy!
These are best served the same day (and still slightly warm – there’s nothing better!), but can be placed in an airtight container for up to a week.
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.
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
Thursday 31st of December 2020
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
Saturday 3rd of October 2020
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
Sunday 4th of October 2020
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
Monday 14th of September 2020
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
Monday 14th of September 2020
Using only egg whites makes them more crispy, whereas using a whole egg makes it chewier.
Brenda
Friday 28th of August 2020
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
Saturday 29th of August 2020
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.
Hi there! I’m Leslie and I use baking as an outlet for relieving stress and anxiety to provide you with easy to follow homemade recipes and a little humor. About Leslie >>
Marty Neagle
Tuesday 9th of February 2021
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
Thursday 31st of December 2020
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
Saturday 3rd of October 2020
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
Sunday 4th of October 2020
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
Monday 14th of September 2020
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
Monday 14th of September 2020
Using only egg whites makes them more crispy, whereas using a whole egg makes it chewier.
Brenda
Friday 28th of August 2020
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
Saturday 29th of August 2020
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.