How to make ice-cream tacos

Did you know you can reshape a waffle cone into a taco shell? Well, you can! And it’s actually quite simple. So round up the kids and have fun making these ice-cream filled sweet tacos with chocolate, nuts or sprinkles.

Ingredients:

• 4 waffle cones
• 500g container ice-cream of choice (we used raspberry ripple)
• “Crackin” hard setting chocolate ice-cream sauce OR 100g milk chocolate flavoured baking chocolate
• Handful peanuts, roughly chopped
• Other ice-cream sprinkles

 

1. To reshape the cones, fill a pot with about an inch of water over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Place a steaming trivet in the pot, making sure it is not submerged in the water, or place a steaming pot on top with its lid.
2. Take 2 squares of paper kitchen towel and run them under the tap, then squeeze out the excess water. Stuff 2 of the waffle cones with the dampened paper towel, then place one of the cones inside the steamer. Steam for 2-3 minutes with the lid on. The cone should have started to unravel, but if it’s still slightly stiff, use kitchen tongs to flip the cone over so the other side is steamed directly, then replace the lid and steam for further 30 seconds to 1 minute.
3. Remove cone from the steamer and place the second cone in its place, replacing the lid.
4. Working quickly, unravel the softened cone, flatten it out and then bend it into the shape of a taco shell. If it’s still a bit stiff in places, a quick steaming on just those areas over a just boiled kettle spout will help soften them. If making these with kids, it’s best to do this step yourself!
5. Once cooled and shaped, set aside and use the dampened kitchen towel to stuff another cone. Repeat this process until all cones have been shaped. Take care that no small pools of water are on the steamer, give a quick wipe with kitchen towel before placing the next cone in to steam, otherwise the cone will become soggy and wet.
6. If using a hard setting “crackin” chocolate sauce, give the bottle a good shake and pour sauce into a bowl. If using a block of baking chocolate, follow the instructions on the packaging to melt the chocolate covering and place in a bowl.
7. Remove the cardboard packaging from the ice-cream and place ice-cream on a cutting board. Use a sharp knife to cut the ice-cream block in half from one corner to the opposite corner so you are left with 2 triangles. Cut each triangle in half lengthways so that you now have 4 triangles still the same size. The easiest way of doing this is to stand the triangles up on the cut side, cutting it down the middle.

(If needed, pop the ice-cream back in the freezer for 20-30 minutes to firm up.)

8. To fill the tacos, take one of the ice-cream triangles and slide it into the waffle taco shell, with the longest edge along the base of the shell. Use a knife to trim away the ice-cream left sticking out of the shell so that the edges of the ice-cream and the shell are flush.

9. Return filled tacos to the freezer for 30 minutes – 1 hour.

10. Remove from freezer and dip a taco into the chocolate sauce or chocolate covering to seal in the ice-cream. Allow excess chocolate to drip off, then place on a plate and pop in the freezer to set. Do this for the remaining tacos.

11. If using chocolate covering, re-melt if needed for the second dipping. Place chopped peanuts or sprinkles in bowls.

13. Remove tacos from the freezer and re-dip in chocolate then dip the still-wet chocolate into the peanuts or sprinkles. Place on a plate and pop back in the freezer. Do this for the remaining tacos. They’ll take only a minute to set again, so enjoy once they’re done!

14. Store in a freezer bag or freezer safe plastic container with lid. Will keep for up to a month, although, the taco shell will become softer over time. If you want the shell to stay crisp, you can first brush the inside of the shell with melted chocolate and freezing to set before filling with ice-cream.