With little Arlo in my life this year, I’ve been in full-on Christmas mode since September. Decorating, crafts and festive treats have been on my mind, so creating holiday ice cream cones for December felt like a must.
We teamed up with Blue Bunny Ice Cream to add some holiday magic to two great flavors: Vanilla Bean and Cookie Butter. The Cookie Butter flavor was especially popular around here—so good we fought over the pint—while Vanilla Bean made the perfect base for snowy little snowmen cones.
These reindeer and snowman cones are fun, simple to make, and perfect for a family gathering or a build-your-own dessert station at a Christmas party. All of the decorations—antlers, scarves, buttons and noses—are made from candy melts, chocolate and small candies. They’re easy to prepare ahead of time and assemble in minutes.
DIY Reindeer + Snowman Ice Cream Cones
Prep Time: 30 mins
Total Time: 30 mins
Servings: depends on scoops
Ingredients
- For the Reindeer:
- Blue Bunny Cookie Butter Ice Cream
- Small gumballs or hard-shell chocolates (for noses)
- Candy melts in brown or desired antler color / chocolate
- Cake cones
- Piping bag and small piping tip
- Wax paper
- For the Snowman:
- Blue Bunny Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
- Candy melts in orange plus other colors for scarf and buttons / chocolate
- Cake cones
- Two sizes of ice cream scoops (large and small)
- Round object (lemon, toy ball, or similar) wrapped in plastic to mold scarves
- Plastic wrap
- Piping bag and small piping tip
- Wax paper
- Paring knife (for trimming small shapes like carrot noses)
Instructions
- Make antlers for the reindeer: Melt candy melts (brown or preferred color) and let them cool slightly. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small tip.
- Pipe antler shapes onto wax paper set on a baking sheet. Keep shapes small enough to insert into an ice cream scoop.
- Refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes depending on size. Peel carefully from the wax paper when set.
- Assemble reindeer cones: Place a large scoop of Cookie Butter ice cream on a cake cone. Gently insert two antlers into the top of the scoop and add a gumball or small candy for the nose just below the antlers.
- Make scarves for the snowmen: Wrap a round object (similar in size to your larger scoop) in plastic wrap. Melt candy melts in the scarf color you want, cool slightly, and fill a piping bag.
- Pipe scarf shapes over the plastic-wrapped object to form a curved scarf that will sit neatly on the larger scoop. Pipe several at once if desired and chill in the fridge until hardened, about 20 minutes.
- Make buttons and noses: Melt a contrasting color of candy melts for buttons and pipe tiny dots onto wax paper. Chill until set. For noses, melt orange candy melts and form small triangles; trim with a paring knife if needed to create little carrot shapes.
- Assemble snowman cones: Place a large scoop of Vanilla Bean ice cream on a cake cone, then top with a smaller scoop. Place the hardened candy scarf around the seam of the two scoops. Add two button dots to the lower scoop and an orange triangle nose to the top scoop.
- Serve immediately, or set the assembled cones on a lined tray and keep briefly in the freezer until ready to serve. These are best eaten soon after assembly so the candy decorations stay in place and the ice cream holds its shape.
Photos by Jeff Mindell | Food Styling Assistant: Theresa Rountree
If you make these for a party, offer a variety of candy melt colors and small candies so guests can customize their cones. You can even use colored cones for an extra festive pop—mixing and matching creates a bright, playful display that kids and adults will love.
This post was created in partnership with Blue Bunny. All opinions are my own.