This one is worth screaming from the rooftops. YOU CAN MAKE ICE CREAM CONES WITH YOUR PANINI MAKER! Easily! With no special ingredients! And they’re good!
Get ready for your inner child to leap with joy once that familiar sweet, cookie smell you love from the ice cream parlor wafts about your kitchen. If you’ve ever watched the ice cream folks make cones, all they do is place some batter on a shallow waffle iron, press out the batter and shape the cone. It finally occurred to me…couldn’t we do the same thing on a panini press? The answer is: absolutely.
For the cone batter, I looked to this super-helpful post on the Cupcake Project blog. Stef offered tips for pressing and rolling ice cream cones on a traditional waffle cone maker as well as a link to pastry chef Gale Gand‘s cone batter recipe on the Food Network website. You probably already have most of the ingredients on hand: heavy cream, vanilla, powdered sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and cornstarch. That’s it.
I made up a batch of the cone batter, applied a dollop to the panini grill (a heaping tablespoonful seemed about right), closed the lid, and waited anxiously for a little over a minute.
This amoeba-with-ridges may not resemble the perfectly round discs that a regular waffle cone maker produces, but keep the faith…it’ll be worth it.
It was easy enough to make my own cone mold. All I did was draw a big circle on the back of an old file folder (in truth, I traced the outside of a roll of blue painter’s tape), cut it out and taped it into a cone shape. For those of you without a roll of blue painter’s tape, I’ve made a little template for you.
At this point, the cone is very hot off the press. Be tough! You’ve got to work quickly to shape your cone before it cools (like less than 10 seconds). Position your mold in the center of the cone, leaving a little space at the edge…
…to allow the cone to fold over on itself at the bottom without leaving a hole. You know that ugh feeling when the drip-drops of ice cream on your sneakers let you know there’s a hole in your cone.
The cone miraculously sticks itself together and, after about 10 seconds or so, holds itself in place for good.
Hooray – ice cream cones!
By the way, they are actually really good ice cream cones. You get big vanilla flavor along with hints of spice from the cinnamon and nutmeg. They’re crisp just like they should be. It turns out that the amoeba shape that the panini grill produces, once rolled, actually makes a more even-edged ice cream cone than the traditional waffle cone maker. Ha! So maybe this way is even better. 
I hope you’ll all be grilling off tons of ice cream cones this weekend – and while you’re at it, go ahead and fill them with some incredible Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream!
Make Your Own Ice Cream Cones on a Panini Press
Adapted from Gale Gand’s Waffle Cone recipe on the Food Network website
Prep time: 40 min (including rest time) | Cook time: 30 min | Total time: 1 hr 10 min
Yield: 14 ice cream cones
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
DIRECTIONS:
- In a medium bowl with a whisk or electric mixer, whip the cream and vanilla together until it is mousse-like. Sift the remaining dry ingredients together in another bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the cream and stir to make a batter. Let the batter sit for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the panini grill to medium high heat (about 375°F).
For each ice cream cone:
- Place a heaping tablespoonful of batter onto the grill and close the lid, completely pressing the batter. Grill for about 90 seconds or until the pressed cone is browned but still malleable; it will be an oblong shape. Carefully transfer the pressed cone to a cutting board or piece of waxed paper.
- Position your cone mold (download a template and instructions for making a mold here) in the center of the pressed cone, leaving about 1/2″ of space between the long edge of the pressed cone and the pointed end of the cone mold.
- Working quickly and carefully (the cone will be very hot!), roll the pressed cone around the cone mold to shape it.
- Leave the cone on the mold for about 10 seconds to set the shape.
>Ready to buy a panini press? Check out my Panini Press Buying Guide for the features to look for.
>Want more panini recipes? See my Recipe Index for a list of all recipes on Panini Happy.
>Traveling to a new city soon? Browse Panini Happy’s Great American Sandwich Guide to find the best sandwiches across the country!
Pinterest 
Facebook 
Twitter 
Subscribe
Panini Happy is more than just a sandwich blog. Here, you'll find more than 200 of my original 
{ 10 trackbacks }
{ 65 comments… read them below or add one }
← Previous Comments
I never imagined making my own cones, this is such a great idea. I need a panini press!
Nichol´s last blog post ..Rubbermaid 8 Piece Glass Containers With Easy Find Lids Review & Giveaway
[Reply]
OMG! You are a genius! I never use my panini press, but waffle cones? Heck yes! (Glad I found your blog on The Kitchn, now maybe I will use my panini press to make sandwiches again, thanks to your site.)
Ivy Manning´s last blog post ..Thinking Outside The Bag- Homemade Baked Potato Chips
[Reply]
Kathy Reply:
June 10th, 2011 at 2:48 pm
Thank you so much, Ivy – and thanks for the heads up about The Kitchn!
[Reply]
Epic! Absolutley brilliant!!! I am so glad I discovered your blog today! Thanks Kitchn!!!
I, too use a George for my panini making. I am so excited to try these. I gave my husband an ice cream maker for his birthday and he’s getting Jeni Britton Bauer’s new ice cream book for Father’s day. This will be awesome!!!
And if I can’t get them rolled absolutely tight enough. I’ll just use Martha’s trick of dropping a mini marshmallow in the bottom of the cone before scooping ice cream on top
You rock!
[Reply]
Kathy Reply:
June 10th, 2011 at 2:47 pm
Thanks so much, Jean! I hadn’t heard of the marshmallow trick – that’s the perfect solution! I definitely want to check out that ice cream cookbook – I get the Jeni’s emails and am always so enticed by her flavors.
[Reply]
Awesome idea. You’ve given me yet one more reason why I need to add a panini press to my kitchen arsenal! Thanks for a great post.
[Reply]
Couldn’t you just use a funnel to create the ice cream cones? I mean, it’s cone shaped already…..and sturdier than paper. Or is there some problem with the funnel that I’m not aware of ?
[Reply]
Kathy Reply:
June 11th, 2011 at 8:24 am
I’m sure you could try a funnel. I just don’t happen to have one. It might be a challenge to close the hole at the bottom.
[Reply]
What a fantastic idea, Kathy! I can’t wait to surprise my kids with these cones.
[Reply]
I so love this idea ! For this, I’m gonna have that panini press I always wanted to buy. I’m gonna do it ! Thank you so much for sharing, I can’t wait to try.
Lily’s Treasures´s last blog post ..OOAK – Melody the broken-winged butterfly
[Reply]
What a clever idea! I love using my panini press to make sandwiches, but I never in a million years would have thought of making ice cream cones with it!
[Reply]
Great post! You know, they sell krumkake molds (http://www.fantes.com/images/16634.jpg) that I bet would be great for making cones too.
[Reply]
Um wait, this one is pointier and better for closing the cone on the bottom: http://www.fantes.com/images/16633krumkake.jpg I got it from this website http://www.fantes.com/krumkake.html
[Reply]
Best idea I’ve seen in a blog in ages! I can’t wait to try this out!!
[Reply]
These are unbelievable and exactly what I was looking for! I am making them this weekend for homemade drumsticks. Thank you so much for sharing, Kathy!
[Reply]
Kathy Reply:
July 8th, 2011 at 10:00 am
Fabulous – I’d love to try homemade drumsticks sometime too!
[Reply]
Kelly Senyei Reply:
July 17th, 2011 at 4:41 pm
Hi Kathy! I just posted the recipe for my Homemade Mini Ice Cream Drumsticks, based off of your post. Thanks so much for the inspiration!
http://www.justataste.com/2011/07/homemade-mini-ice-cream-drumsticks/
[Reply]
What a terrific idea! I gotta try this one.
[Reply]
Can you use milk as a substitute to heavy cream?
Great idea with the panini maker!
Thanks
[Reply]
Kathy Reply:
August 7th, 2011 at 7:05 am
I haven’t tried it with anything besides heavy cream, but my guess is that using milk, which has less fat, might result in a somewhat less crisp cone and thinner batter. Worth experimenting, though!
[Reply]
I failed miserably at this! I’ve had this page bookmarked for months and finally tried them. Mine came out too thick even though the press was pushed down all the way. They were sort of cakey and broke apart when I tried to shape them. They were still delicious and we ate them like cookies. I don’t know what I did wrong . . . whip the cream too much?
[Reply]
Kathy Reply:
September 5th, 2011 at 12:34 pm
Eek – something definitely was off. Which grill did you use?
[Reply]
Jill Reply:
October 3rd, 2011 at 7:33 am
Sorry I missed seeing the reply. I have a Cuisinart Griddler.
[Reply]
Kathy Reply:
October 3rd, 2011 at 7:48 am
It’s possible that the Griddler doesnt close as tightly as the Breville panini press I was using. I’ve since bought a Griddler and while I haven’t tried the ice cream cones with it I did try making tortillas and noticed they weren’t quite as thin as I’d like.
← Previous Comments