How To Make And Shape Crispy Homemade Ice Cream Cones

It's easy to make ice cream at home without any fancy tools, but what about the cones? If you're having trouble figuring it out, you're not alone. Ice cream was served in all kinds of containers before Italo Marchiony invented the edible ice cream cone in 1896. To help you avoid the trial-and-error of the past and make crispy cones at home, Chowhound reached out to an expert for advice. It all starts with using the proper equipment.

"You have to have an ice cream cone maker, or like a krumkake, which we use a lot in our kitchen at home," says Tyler Malek, co-founder and head ice cream maker of Salt & Straw, the craft ice cream shop behind "America's Most Iconic Ice Creams Cookbook" and many sweet frozen treats. "I actually inherited my grandma's! It's a Swedish cookie maker that keeps them really thin. It's basically like a Swedish waffle cone maker that you can use right on top of your gas stove burners. You can't use a regular waffle maker, it has to be really, really thin so it cooks it flat." Krumkake, meaning "curved cake," is a traditional Scandinavian dessert that's made by pouring batter into a hot iron press and rolling it into cone form. Standard stoves and ovens fail to make waffle cones because heat causes the ingredients to rise and take in air, creating a fluffy consistency. An ice cream cone press or krumkake iron can heat the batter from both sides to make it nice and crispy, similar to a panini press.

While a waffle-patterned press is the only way to form a true waffle cone, Tyler Malek suggests adapting a recipe for tuile to create a cone. Tuiles are paper-thin and extra-crispy French confections that are rolled into a tube shape. To make them an ideal ice cream carrier, you can roll them into cones instead. Alternatively, you can make a thin pancake or crêpe, roll it into a cone, and fry it for an extra-thick and crunchy treat. 

Whichever recipe you follow, the trick is to mold the cones while they're still warm and then let them cool to solidify. "When you make your waffle cone, be sure you cook it all the way through. Any residual moisture is going to instantly sog it out," says Malek. "Ideally, you store it in a closed container. And even then, sometimes adding one of those silica packs can make a big difference in keeping it really crispy (especially in humid weather and humid climates, the waffle cones tend to get soggy really fast)." Giving your ice cream cones enough time to cool down is necessary before storing them. Warm cones release heat and create a humid, soggy environment, causing them to lose their crispiness. Once they're cooled down, you can put them in a plastic bag inside an airtight container where moisture can't get in. Homemade ice cream cones last for a week at room temperature in a cool, dry location.