Want to make an edible Christmas craft with your kids that's fun and festive? These ice cream cone Christmas trees are a fun way to give your dessert table a festive makeover this holiday season! Plus, they taste great, too!!
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Why you'll love this recipe
✔️ Christmas tree cones are a great activity to keep kids busy at holiday parties. They're also a fun, decorative dessert!
✔️ Simple ingredients like store-bought sugar cookies and store-bought frosting make this sweet treat extra easy.
✔️ No cooking or piping skills are necessary with this simple recipe—all you need is a butter knife!
Ingredients
Please refer to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for the exact measurements.
- Ice cream cones
- Store-bought sugar cookies
- Vanilla frosting
- Green food coloring
- Assortment of candies or Christmas-colored sprinkles
Instructions
This is an overview of the instructions. For complete directions, scroll down to the bottom.
- Add vanilla frosting to a medium-sized bowl. Mix drops of green food coloring into frosting until you have your desired green color.
- Using an offset spatula or butter knife, spread green frosting on the sugar cone, including the bottom edge.
- Then, place the sugar cone onto a round sugar cookie. Press down, and be careful not to break the cookie or sugar cone. Allow to set for 10 minutes.
- Spread more green frosting onto the cone and cookie. Once the cone is covered in frosting, have fun decorating your tree using sprinkles, M&Ms, or other edible decorations.
- Top each tree with a star sprinkle, if desired.
Equipment
- You really only need a butter knife, BUT if you want to get fancy use a piping bag with a star tip or a leaf tip!
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FAQ's
Sure! Any other soft, flat cookies like chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal cookies, snickerdoodles, molasses cookies, and peanut butter cookies will work great for Christmas tree ice cream cones.
Use your favorite candies. You can decorate your Christmas tree cones with Reese’s mini cups, mini M&Ms, mini chocolate chips, gumdrops, candy cane bits, colorful sprinkles, sugar pearls, and jelly beans—the sky is the limit!
Use a frosting that sets well, like buttercream frosting.
You can, but it isn’t necessary. Your kids may have a hard time frosting the outside of the cones with a piping bag. However, if you’re feeling fancy, use small star tips or leaf tips on a piping bag to make your little trees more decorative and realistic.
Test kitchen tips
- Be very gentle when spreading the green frosting with a butter knife—press too hard, and you’ll break the cone.
- Adjust how many drops of green food coloring you add to the white frosting to make a lighter or darker shade of green. You can always add more green, but it's hard to lighten frosting that's too dark!
- If you choose not to use a cookie base, stick the bottom of each Christmas tree cone to a small piece of wax paper.
- If you’re nervous about your little ones handling real butter knives, give them plastic knives instead. It'll work just the same.
- Let your kids pick their favorite candies for tree decorations—they’ll have so much fun with it!
- Make your sugar cone Christmas trees on a paper plate or a rimmed cookie sheet so they don’t slide off the edges when you move them to your holiday dessert table.
Variations
- You can use waffle cones, too, as long as the bottom of the cone is flat.
- Make this Christmas treat even easier by using green cupcake frosting in a spray can instead of mixing green food coloring into white by hand.
- Homemade royal icing or buttercream frosting can be used instead of store-bought vanilla frosting.
- Make your own sugar cookies from scratch if you like. Try my easy recipe at the end of the post—it’s not your average sugar cookie!
- Don’t forget to place a star-shaped sprinkle on top of the tree!
- Dust the green icing with powdered sugar or coconut flakes to make snow-covered Christmas tree cones. How fun!!
Fill the sugar cones with an assortment of candy for a special surprise for the kids on Christmas Eve! 🍬
Storage
These Ice Cream Cone Christmas Tree can be consumed immediately or stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
They can also be left out at room temperature and used as a decoration. However, they aren't very tasty once left out overnight.
More Christmas cookie recipes
- The perfect holiday treat, Rolo Sugar Cookies are stuffed with chocolate and gooey caramel and rolled in green and red sugar crystals!
- Old-Fashioned Butterscotch Cookies are crunchy on the outside, chewy inside, and loaded with homemade brown butter frosting—so delicious.
- These 4-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies taste like the holidays. They're crispy, rich, crazy good, and easy peasy, too.
- Pretzel M&M Hugs might be considered more of a candy than a cookie, but I'll tell ya: no one complains when they see 'em on a cookie tray!
- Perfectly crumbly and impossible to resist, Pecan Sandies always go first at holiday cookie exchanges—and these ones are no different.
- These White Chocolate Dipped Oreos are great during Christmas, but they're really fun and festive throughout the entire winter season, too!
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If you love this recipe, please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating!
Ice Cream Cone Christmas Trees
Ingredients
- 6 Store bought ice cream cones
- 6 Store bought sugar cookies
- 1 16-ounce can vanilla frosting
- Green Food Coloring
- Assortment of candies and Christmas-colored sprinkles
Instructions
- Add vanilla frosting to a medium-sized bowl. Mix drops of green food coloring into frosting until you have your desired green color.
- Using an offset spatula or butter knife, spread green frosting on the sugar cone. Including around the bottom edge.
- Place the sugar cone onto a round sugar cookie. Press down, and be careful not to break the cookie or sugar cone. Allow to set for 10 minutes.
- Spread green frosting onto the cone. Once the cone is covered in green frosting, have fun decorating your tree using sprinkles, M&Ms, or other edible decorations.
- Top each tree with a star sprinkle, if desired.
Lois Corliss
They are so cute. It will be easy to make also. Love them.
Sherri Rochester
Aren't these adorable??? Great project for the kiddos! Perfect excuse for playing with their food.
Bowl Me Over
Hahaha, that's so true! Happy Holidays!
Maureen
These trees are the best. Great idea for the kids or grandkids. Everyone can make their own unique tree. Another Christmas treat.
Thanks
Bowl Me Over
You're so welcome Maureen, Happy Holidays!!
Michelle Gosser
I've always thought these were just so darn cute! Another great easy recipe for the kiddos 😋
Bowl Me Over
Most definitely Michelle, enjoy!!!
MaryB
What a fun idea to do with little kids! So cute.
Bowl Me Over
I hope you give them a try MaryB - have fun!
Kathleen Pohorence
These look fun and know people will love them!!!
Bowl Me Over
Super cute, right? Great centerpiece for your Holiday table!!
Carol
What a great idea to do with kids!!! We make Ginger Bread House's this would be a nice addition to our display of houses!!! Thanks for this cure idea!!
Cat stevens
Awesome looking. Will be a fun project to share with others. Our table would be gorgeous. EZ and quick.
Bowl Me Over
Awesome!! Have fun putting these together Cat - they are so fun and festive!!
Bowl Me Over
You're so welcome Carol! And if you like making gingerbread houses with the kids, boy have I got a fun one for you tomorrow! Stay tuned and Happy Holidays!