DIY Drumsticks

DIY Drumsticks: A homemade version of a chocolate dipped ice cream cone sprinkled with nuts. Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free and Naturally Sweetened Versions. 

What were your favorite things about being a child?

I loved the care-free summers I spent playing outdoors at my grandparent’s house. Those days were filled with hours of building forts and visiting imaginary places with my cousins. And then coming in to have a huge family dinner that usually consisted of a Slow Cooker BBQ Pork and Papa’s Baked Beans.

And of course ice cream.

Once in a blue moon, I was allowed to walk to a Lawson’s, a local convenience store, with several of my cousins.

Boy did we kids get excited when Papa would pull out his billfold and give us each a dollar.

We were rich–well, back in the day we were junk food rich! 

We would rush down to Lawson’s (usually accompanied by a parent who was on the hunt for their famous chip dip) and debate between those wax candies that were filled with sugary syrup, interesting flavors of gum, or a treat from the frozen department.

I typically opted for ice cream, drumsticks to be exact. Hello, chocolate!!!

Homemade Drumstick Ice Cream Cones

Years later when I met my husband, I quickly found out that drumsticks were one of his all time favorite childhood treats as well. It was destiny! And we may or may not have been guilty in consuming our fair share of these cones while we were dating.

Fast forward 15 years, and I don’t think I have purchased or consumed a drumstick cone more than once or twice during that time frame.

What happened?!! I think once I had children, I started to notice ingredients in products more. Once I was diagnosed with severe digestive issues, I REALLY started to pay attention to the additives to many store bought favorites.

Sad. Depressing. Disgusting.

BUT–do you know how easy making drumsticks at home happens to be?

Let me tell you homemade chocolate dipped ice cones are simple!

You have to exercise a bit of patience, but with a few simple ingredients they can be yours! And there is NOTHING sad, depressing, or disgusting about these!

How to Make Homemade Drumstick Ice Cream Cones

1. Start with ice cream cones. Get organic , generic or gluten free. Whatever floats your boat.
2. Now onto the ice cream. Here is where I am particular. I buy an all natural vanilla or chocolate made with just cream, milk, vanilla, and sugar. Oh and cocoa if chocolate flavored. Skip all ice creams with carrageenan, corn syrup, food coloring, caramel color, etc. Your stomach will thank you. (Hint: if you think you get sick from ice cream it just may be the kind you are eating–anything with carrageenan makes me feel beyond ill these days!) And of course you can get dairy-free options at any store or make  No-Churn Dairy Free Vanilla Ice Cream from Flippin Delicious or Coconut Chocolate Chip Vegan Ice Cream from Beaming Baker.
3. Place a chocolate chip in bottom of each cone (just in case their are any holes in your cone).
4. Stuff your ice cream cone with either chocolate or vanilla ice cream and using your hand (you can wash it later) shape the top scoop to make a perfect dome around the cone. Trust me using your hand works SO much better than an ice cream scoop. 
5. Place the prepared ice cream cones on a wax paper lined sheet tray and place in the freezer.
6. Crush up some peanuts or almonds, or skip nuts altogether. Sometimes I am a rebel and use these all natural sprinkles.
7. Melt some chocolate. Either cut up a chocolate bar or use chocolate chips. Again, use dairy-free chocolate if needed. Another great option for these drumsticks is to use Homemade Strawberry Magic Shell from Go Dairy Free, in place of the chocolate for a strawberry version of this treat.
8. Pull the ice cream cones out from freezer and dip into melted chocolate and sprinkle peanut over chocolate. Put cone immediately back into freezer and wait until chocolate is set.
9. Test your patience. It should only take 10 minutes to set back up, but it can be a hard 10 minutes to wait.

How to Melt Chocolate

For dipping ice cream in chocolate, you can choose one of several different methods for preparing the chocolate. My favorite way to melt chocolate is slowly in the slow cooker, BUT in a pinch, the microwave is my default method to melt chocolate.

Regardless of what method you use to melt chocolate, remember 2 things:

• Do not get water in your chocolate—this will cause the chocolate to seize up.
• Break up your chocolate of choice into small pieces for more uniform melting. Chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips, or even a leftover candy bar can be used.

Melting Chocolate in the Microwave:

Heat chocolate in a microwave safe bowl on medium high for about 1 minute to start with. Remove from the microwave and stir. Repeat heating at intervals of 20 seconds, stirring in between, until the chocolate is completely melted and has a smooth consistency.

Melting Chocolate in a Double Boiler:

Place chocolate in a heat safe bowl that fits over a stock pan. In that stock pan, bring about an inch of water to a simmer, over medium heat. Set the bowl over the pot, making sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl. Stir chocolate occasionally as it softens. Once chocolate is just about melted, remove bowl from heat, continuing to stir until all the chocolate melts.

Melting Chocolate in the Slow Cooker:

Place chocolate in heat safe glass jar. Place jar in slow cooker and then carefully pour water into slow cooker until the water line reaches halfway up the jars. Be cautious not to get any water into the jar of chocolate. Turn slow cooker on high, do NOT put lid on the slow cooker, and in about 30 minutes your chocolate will be perfectly melted (no need to stir while chocolate melts). Check on chocolate after 20 minutes, as all slow cookers vary in temperature. 

Homemade Ice Cream Cones Dipped In Chocolate

5 from 1 vote

Print

DIY Drumsticks

Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings 6

Author A Mind Full Mom

Ingredients

• 6 ice cream cones
• 48 ounces vanilla or chocolate ice cream
• 16 ounces chopped semi-sweet chocolate or chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped peanuts

Instructions

1. Place a chocolate chip or morsel into the bottom of each cone.
2. Stuff each ice cream cone with 8 ounces of ice cream, finishing with a perfect half sphere on top of each cone (use your hands, if needed.) Freeze on cookie sheet that has been lined with wax paper, until solid, about an hour.
3. Melt chocolate and dip the ice cream into the melted ice cream up to the cone. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts.
4. Place back on lined sheet and freeze for another 10-20 minutes.

More Delicous Summer Treats:

Watermelon Granita with Mint Lime Sugar

Grilled Mixed Berry Crisp

Healthy Cookies and Cream Parfait