Chewy Ice Cream Cone Cookies

So here’s my thinking: sometimes I want a cone & ice cream, sometimes I want a chocolate chip cookie and ice cream…. But what if we could have both in one?! 

The first iteration of these was mostly these bakery style cookies with just some hand-crushed cones mixed in alongside chocolate chips. At room temperature though, the cone bits are rather chewy and their flavor didn’t get mixed in as well as I’d like. 

So I made them kind of how I make these s’mores blondies and ground up the cones to add to the cookie dough itself. Doing this gives the cookies excellent ‘sugar cookie’ flavor! These cookies are also perfect for freezing as they don’t get too tough to eat when frozen. 

Recipe Ingredients 

Sugar: Light or dark brown sugar, plus fine granulated. 

Butter: either american or european (the latter will have more spread). Cold is fine (we’ll be melting it!). If you are using salted, halve the salt listed in the recipe below. 

Egg & yolk: from two large eggs. 

Sugar cones: You can also use waffle cones! But do grind them up and then measure how much you have so you aren’t over-doing it. I’d start with two, since waffle cones are larger. Do not use flat-bottom ice cream cones (the pale kind with the crispy texture) that’s has very different structure and won’t work here. 

Add-ins: One thing I can’t help doing is crushing up more cones with my hands so I get bean sized bits of cone in the cookie. They are a bit chewy at room temperature but crispy/crunchy when frozen.  And chocolate chips! If you intend to use these cookies to make ice cream sandwiches, use mini chips so you won’t be biting into a chunk of frozen chocolate. 

Tips for perfect chewy cookies 

1. Be sure to emulsify your eggs into the sugar/butter mixture: this means whisk it enough until you see some noticeable changes in the dough. The butter shouldn’t at all be separate from the mix, it should be cohesive and shiny. 
2. Chill sufficiently: since this is a melted butter cookie dough, it needs to chill before baking so the cookies don’t over-spread in the oven. 
3. Bake until just golden on the edges: so that the cookies won’t be overly hard and crunchy when eaten as an ice cream sandwich, we want to slightly underbake these.

How to make an ice cream sandwich 

You can simply use an ice cream scoop to portion the ice cream between two cookies and squish it together. 

But if you want a perfect layer of ice cream in the center without risking breaking the cookie do this: line a 8 or 9 inch square pan with parchment paper, then soften some ice cream and then press it into an even layer into the pan. Cover it and freeze. 

Once it’s solid you can use a biscuit cutter to pop out perfect circles of ice cream to place between two cookies (use a cutter that’s about the same size as the baked cookies). 

There will be leftover ice cream in the pan from doing it this way, eat it before it melts 😉 

Once you’ve got your cookies sandwiched, wrap them individually in plastic wrap and set in the freezer. 

Recipe FAQ 

Can I add any kind of chocolate to the cookies? 

Yes but if you are making these into ice cream sandwiches, don’t do big chunks or they’ll be very tough to bite into once frozen!

How far ahead of time can I make the cookies? 

Once the dough is made it can sit in the fridge for up to 24 hours until you are ready to portion and bake. 

Can I freeze some of the dough before baking? 

Once you’ve portioned the cookies, set them on a parchment lined plate and freeze the dough balls for 10 minutes. Then you can transfer them to a ziplock bag for longer storage. If baking from frozen, add a few more minutes to the bake time. 

Topping ice cream cookie sandwiches 

I’ve made these a few ways and I think there’s quite a few possibilities to do a topping before baking them: 

• Top with more chocolate chips and perhaps some flaked sea salt
• Roll them in sprinkles for a rainbow effect
• Roll the dough balls in a mix of granulated sugar and more ground up sugar cone (it gives this rough, craggy look I’m quite fond of) 
• Use my melted chocolate trick: melt some dark chocolate and spoon it over the dough balls to cover the middle. Freeze the cookies until the chocolate is solid, then bake. This gives a thin layer of chocolate all over which is lovely. 

Chewy Ice Cream Cone Cookies Recipe

Ice Cream Cone Cookies

Chewy cookies made with ground up sugar cone bits! These stay chewy even when frozen and are perfect for sandwiching with ice cream.

Prep Time: 20 minutes mins

Cook Time: 10 minutes mins

Chill Time: 1 hour hr

Yields: 24 cookies (enough for 12 sandwiches)

5 from 1 vote

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Ingredients

• 200 g or 1 cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 145 g butter unsalted
• 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
• ¾ tsp fine sea salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 rolled sugar cones ground, 60g
• 210 g all purpose flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda if you want extra thin cookies add an extra 1/8 tsp baking soda
• ½ cup mini chocolate chips optional

Method

• Set the butter in a microwave safe bowl and heat until almost melted. Add the sugars, whisk and return to the microwave for another 30 seconds.
• Whisk the mix until the butter is not noticeably separating from the sugar and then add the eggs and whisk until you have a very smooth batter. Add the salt, baking soda, powder and vanilla and whisk well.
• Add the flour and ground up sugar cones and stir to incorporate into a cohesive dough. Add the chocolate chips, if using, and if you want, use your hands to crush through two additional sugar cones. Fold altogether and cover the bowl.
• Set in the fridge and chill for 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two greased cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• You can portion and bake the cookies as is (about 1.5-2.5 tablespoons of dough per cookie) or you can portion and then roll them in granulated sugar mixed with some more ground up sugar cone, or you can add some more chocolate chips to the top.
• Bake for about 10 minutes, if your cookies are larger than 1.5 tablespoons you might need a few more minutes. If you didn’t use the ⅛ tsp baking soda to get a thinner spread but want them to spread a bit more you can lift the pan while the cookies are in the oven then drop it on the rack, this will flatten them slightly.
• Chill cookies completely before adding ice cream to sandwich. Or eat hot off the oven, they’re super tasty 😉

Notes

How big you scoop the cookies will change how many they make: I tend to scoop 1.5 tablespoons of cookie dough and they make 24 small-ish cookies (enough for 12 ice cream sandwiches). 

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