Adrienne Borlongan, owner of California’s Wanderlust Creamery, shares her go-to waffle cone recipe in The Wanderlust Creamery Presents: The World of Ice Cream. You’ll need a waffle cone maker to make this recipe, but it’s easy enough to get the hang of – and open to endless interpretations. Borlongan writes:

“At any other ice cream shop, I very rarely order my ice cream on a cone. Why? Because they all taste the same, often made from a premade ‘just-add-water’ mix with this unmistakable taste of fake vanilla-with-a-hint-of-citrus. Even worse are the kind of cones that come out of a box that taste like card-board. When dreaming up our menu at Wanderlust Creamery, I wanted cones that actually tasted of caramelized butter and sugar and an airy crispness that comes from real egg whites. I immediately thought of lengua de gato cookies of my childhood. Reworking a basic recipe for that, it became a mother recipe that spawned endless variations.”

Four rows of waffle ice cream cones in different flavours

Homemade Waffle Cones

Adrienne Borlongan, owner of California's Wanderlust Creamery, shares her go-to waffle cone recipe

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Course Dessert

Servings 12 cones

Ingredients

1¼ tsp nonfat dry milk powder
⅓ cup (75 g) unsalted butter
120 g egg whites from about 4 large eggs
1 cup + scant 3 tbsp granulated sugar
½ tsp salt
¼ cup heavy cream
1 tbsp + 1 tsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour

Instructions

In a spice grinder, process the nonfat dry milk powder into a fine powder.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat until it begins to bubble and the milk solids begin to separate from the fat, about 6 minutes. Whisk in the dry milk powder and continue to cook, whisking frequently, until the milk solids begin to turn colour. Remove from heat and let it cool in the saucepan; the milk solids will continue to darken and brown. Set aside.
In a bowl, combine the egg whites, sugar and salt and whisk until sugar is completely dissolved. Whisk in the heavy cream, water, vanilla and brown butter, making sure to include all the browned milk solids, scraped from the bottom of the saucepan.
Gradually add the flour and mix until a completely smooth batter is obtained.
Bake the cones in the waffle cone baker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Store any unused batter in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Notes

Variations

Ube Waffle Cones

Omit the dry milk powder and simply melt the butter instead of browning it. Replace the vanilla extract with 2 tbsp + 1 tsp (35 ml) ube extract and 2 tablespoons ube halaya (purple yam jam).

Corn Waffle Cones

Omit the dry milk powder and simply melt the butter instead of browning it. Double the amount of water in the recipe. Replace the vanilla extract with 1 tbsp + 1 tsp “cream-style” corn. Add ½ cup + 1 tbsp (75 g) cornmeal and ½ cup (65 g) masa harina to the flour.

Coconut Pandan Waffle Cones

Omit the dry milk powder and simply melt the butter instead of browning it. Replace the vanilla extract with 1 tbsp (15 ml) pandan extract. Replace the heavy cream with coconut cream.

Brown Butter Hazelnut Waffle Cones

Double the amount of water in the recipe. Add 1⅓ cups (150 g) finely ground hazelnuts (use a spice grinder) to the flour.

Black Sesame Waffle Cones

Omit the dry milk powder and simply melt the butter instead of browning it. Double the amount of water in the recipe. Add ½ cup+ 2 tbsp (150 g) finely ground black sesame seeds (use a spice grinder) to the flour.