The Muffin Pan Hack For Perfect Ice Cream Cone Bowls Every Time

Serving your ice cream in a cone bowl can really level up the experience and make you feel as though you've stepped into a scoop shop without ever leaving your kitchen. The problem with buying this product from the store, however, is that it's fairly delicate, and you're liable to end up with half a box of broken cone bowls, despite the careful packaging. Making your own from scratch ensures you get perfectly intact cone bowls — plus, they taste infinitely better when they're fresh from your oven.

Out of all the life-changing muffin pan hacks out there, one of our favorites is using the pan to make ice cream cone bowls. The process starts the same way as if you were making ice cream cones: Bake some batter until you have very thin "cookies;" then, rather than rolling each cookie into a cone shape, just drape them over an upside-down muffin compartment. (Remember to move fast while the cookies are still warm and flexible.)

This will create a perfect, muffin-sized cone bowl that you can then fill with your ice cream of choice. Note that you'll probably want to give it a few minutes to cool so it holds its shape. If you have a few extra bowls, but you've run out of ice cream, don't worry. For a twist on the classic summer treat, consider our viral hack for making ice cream cones (or bowls) without ice cream – hint: Use whipped cream instead.

There's nothing wrong with the basics — a classic waffle cone bowl with a high-quality vanilla ice cream is always a winning combination. In fact, we conducted a survey in 2023 that revealed vanilla is the most beloved ice cream flavor. Still, making your own ice cream cone bowls allows you to switch things up. If you have a particular ice cream in mind that you'll be dishing up, why not try to incorporate a few complementary flavors into the bowls themselves? If you've opted for the always-popular vanilla ice cream, let's say, there are countless additions that pair beautifully with that classic flavor.

Just as you'd dip an ice cream cone into chocolate, you can coat a portion of your cone bowl in your melted chocolate of choice. Then, while the chocolate is still wet, you have the perfect opportunity to press on dry additions like chopped nuts, cereal, sprinkles, or (if you've shattered a few cone bowls during the manufacturing process) some crushed cone fragments.

Need some more ideas? Go tropical by pairing piña colada ice cream with a white chocolate-dipped bowl accentuated with coconut flakes or amplify a chocolatey experience by pairing cookies-and-cream ice cream with a bowl dipped in dark chocolate then sprinkled with crushed Oreo cookies. The potential combinations are endless — you can even try making a few different cone bowl flavors using the same base batter.