Ree Drummond Just Recreated Her Favorite Childhood Ice Cream Truck Treat–And You Can Too
This was always one of our go-to orders, too, but now we can make it at home with other flavors of ice cream.
It’s always a tough choice to select from the ice cream truck menu. How about a Good Humor bar? Or perhaps a Bomb Pop? It’s never a bad day for an ice cream sandwich, either, especially the ones with a chocolate chip cookie “bun.”
Ree Drummond's Favorite Nostalgic Treat
Those are all solid choices, but when we were kids, we frequently found ourselves returning time and time again to the chocolate-dunked ice cream cones. Remember those? Whether the menu called them Drumsticks, Sundae Cones, King Cones, or Big Dippers, there are many layers to love. The Magic Shell-like chocolate coating gets top billing, but there’s so much goodness hiding underneath: cool, sweet ice cream, a crunchy, brown sugary cone, and the decadent dose of chocolate hiding at the bottom (to catch any potential drips and ensure that the last bite is as memorable as the first).
If you, too, are a fan of these ice cream truck treats — or their cousins, which are easily accessible in the freezer aisle at most supermarkets any time of year — it turns out that you’ve got some great company. Ree Drummond recently revealed on a new episode of her Food Network show that she, too, swooned over these dunked cones.
Related: 10 Genius Ice Cream Hacks That Will Make Your Summer
“One of the true joys of summertime when I was a kid was hearing that ice cream truck music play around my neighborhood. There was nothing more exciting than being outside with friends, and you’d hear that ice cream music. You’d go running to get a treat from the truck. Well I’m going to recreate my personal favorite thing from the ice cream truck days,” Drummond says, introducing her Homemade Dipped Cones. “They’re super-easy to make and so fun to keep in the freezer in the summertime.”
How To Make Homemade Dipped Cones
Since the ice cream truck doesn’t make frequent rounds near her home on the Oklahoma ranch, Drummond decided to develop her own DIY recipe to cure her cravings — and to share with her family and friends.
How To Make The Chocolate Coating
To follow her lead, start with the coating. You have a couple options for melting chocolate:
In the microwave: Place 8 ounces of chopped semisweet baking chocolate and 1 teaspoon coconut oil* in a microwave-safe bowl. Set the timer to 30 seconds and the heat to 30 percent power, then microwave. Stir well, and continue microwaving for 30-second sessions at 30 percent power until the chocolate is melted and smooth.
On a stovetop: Fill a saucepan with a couple inches of water. Place this on a burner and bring it to a boil. Place a slightly smaller, heat-safe bowl on top of the saucepan (it should nest in the top of the pan without touching the water). Place 8 ounces of chopped semisweet baking chocolate and 1 teaspoon coconut oil* in the bowl, then stir frequently with a heat-safe spatula until all of the chocolate is melted and is incorporated evenly. Remove the bowl from the pan and turn off the burner.
TIP
Drummond recommends 8 ounces of chocolate to 1 teaspoon coconut oil, but we’ve had better luck texture-wise with 2 tablespoons coconut oil per 8 ounces of chocolate. Feel free to experiment with what works best in your kitchen.
How To Make The Ice Cream Cones
Bring 2 pints of ice cream out of the freezer to allow them to soften slightly. Drummond opted for one pint of cookies and cream and one pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream, but you could certainly swap in any of your favorite Blue Bell flavors or 4 cups of homemade ice cream, if you’re feeling ambitious.
Place 6 small glasses inside a 9- x 13-inch baking dish. This will act as your extra sets of hands to hold the cones as you finish the rest (and as they firm up in the freezer).
Round up 6 small sugar cones. Add a tablespoon of your melted chocolate into the bottom of each cone, using the glasses to hold each upright as you work on the rest.
Then comes the cool part: Use a tablespoon to add a few spoonfuls of ice cream to a cone; pressing the back of the spoon gently to push the ice cream to the bottom of the cone so there aren’t any gaps. Next, using a ?-cup (2.7-ounce) ice cream scoop, form a scoop of the same flavor of ice cream and press it firmly on top of the cone.
Finish With Creative Toppings
Flip the cone to dunk the top scoop evenly from edge to edge in the melted chocolate, then immediately sprinkle it with your topping of choice:
Crushed sandwich cookies
Rainbow sprinkles
Chopped nuts
Toffee pieces
Crushed pretzels
Crushed cereal pieces
Repeat with the 5 other cones, filling with the same or other flavors of ice cream. Dunk and garnish as desired.
Freeze The Cones
Transfer the cones, held steady in their glasses, to the freezer to firm up for 30 minutes. Once the chocolate is solidified, wrap each cone in parchment paper and gently place them in a large zip-top bag to store in the freezer—or enjoy immediately.
Whether the ice cream truck season in your neck of the woods is winding down, you don’t have trucks visiting your neighborhood, or you’re simply craving a combination that’s not commercially available, you now have a fairly quick fix with Drummond’s recipe. It’s a sweet gift from one Southerner to another!
Related: 12 Tasty Desserts That Start With Store-Bought Ice Cream
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