Recipe © 2013 by Kathy Strahs and used by permission of The Harvard Common Press.
This is worth screaming from the rooftops: You can make ice cream cones with your Panini press! Easily! With no special ingredients! And they’re really, really good!
Get ready for your inner child to leap with joy once that familiar sweet cookie smell 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? Absolutely!
This easy, flavorful ice cream cone recipe is adapted from a recipe created by pastry chef Gale Gand so it can be prepared on the panini press, with the help of a DIY cone mold. See the Note at the end for instructions on how to make your mold.
This recipe requires a panini press that closes very tightly in order to make a wafer thin enough to turn into a cone.
- 1 1⁄2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1⁄4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- A pinch of ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cornstarch. Set aside.
- In another medium-size bowl, with a whisk or electric mixer whip the cream and vanilla together until it is mousse-like. Add the dry ingredients to the cream and stir to make a batter. Let the batter sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Heat the panini press to medium-high heat.
- For each ice cream cone: Place a heaping tablespoonful of batter onto the grill and close the lid, completely pressing the batter. Grill until the pressed cone is browned but still malleable, about 90 seconds; it will be an oblong shape. Carefully transfer the pressed cone to a cutting board or piece of waxed paper. Position your cone mold (see the Note below) in the center of the pressed cone, leaving about 1⁄2 inch 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.
- Enjoy your favorite ice cream in your freshly made cones! The cones are best enjoyed the same day that they are made, but they’ll still be fresh the next day if stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
To make a mold for the cone, mark a circle approximately 45⁄8 inches in diameter on a piece of cardstock-weight paper. Use scissors to cut out the circle, then form the paper into a cone shape by overlapping two sides and twisting the circle until you’ve formed a point on one end. Tape the cone closed so that it retains its shape.
very cool!