Scream your way into Halloween with these Skull Cone Ice Creams !!! Here is the recipe on how to make skull shaped Ice Cream scoops and Chocolate Waffle Cones from scratch.

This was also my very best attempt in making an Apple Cider Vanilla Ice Cream, as I wanted to incorporate some fall flavors. To make it spooky, I added some black food coloring. Also the recipe is for a "No-Churn" ice cream, made without using an ice-cream machine. The whipped cream base ice cream works better with the molds.

The skull cone ice cream itself was delicious and creamy, gave all the creepy vibes but definitely pooped with our Halloween presentation.

Supplies

Ice Cream

Apple Cider - 3 cups reduced to 1 cup and used only 1/2 cup
Brown Sugar - 3/4 cup
Heavy Whipping cream - 2 cups
Sweet Condensed Milk - 3/4 cup
Vanilla Essence - 1 Tbsp
Black Food coloring - 10-14 drops

Chocolate Waffle Cone

Unsalted Butter - 2 Tbsp
Unsweetened Chocolate - 4 Oz
Salt - 1/2 Tsp
Sugar - 1 Tsp
Eggs - 2
All-purpose Flour - 1 Cup
Vanilla Essence - 1 Tsp

Extras

Bloody Berry Sauce

Pitted Cherries - 1/2 cup
Raspberries - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 2 Tbsp

Tools

Basic kitchen tools - Pots, Spoons, Ladle, Whisk, Cookie Sheet, Loaf Pan, Measuring cups and Spoons.
Skull Mold - I got mine from Amazon (Link - Skull Mold)
Mixer - A hand mixer or stand mixer would be helpful. But the heavy cream can be whipped using a whisk as well.
Waffle maker
Cone Shape - I made a paper cone and used that to mold my cone shape
Sieve - If you plan to make a smooth berry sauce
Dropper - To inject berry sauce onto the skull (optional)

Step 1: Apple Cider Vanilla Ice Cream

Ice Cream Recipe

This ice cream recipe will suffice to make 8-10 ice cream skulls scoops and provide for the the filling of the cone.

In a pot, I added 3 cups of apple cider and all of the brown sugar. Let it simmer on low-medium flame and used a whisk to stir in the sugar occasionally making sure it is dissolved. Once the solution boils down to less than 1 cup, I set aside in a bowl and let it cool.
- Note: It takes about 30-35 minutes to reduce to less than 1 cup. This step is important as the excess water gets evaporated and formation of any ice crystals in the ice cream can be avoided. Also, the flavor of apple cider gets more concentrated.
I used kitchen aid stand mixer for mixing. In the mixing bowl, I added all of the Heavy Cream, Sweetened Condensed Milk, Vanilla Essence and half cup of reduced Apple Cider.
Gently folded the mixture and mixed it on gentle speed for few seconds. Then I added 10-14 drops of black food coloring in increments of 2-3 drops to achieve desired greyish black color.
Beat the mixture on speed 4 for 1-2 minutes until stiff peaks were formed.

Step 2: Formation of Skull Cones

I saved half of the ice cream mixture in a loaf pan and put it in the freezer. This will be used to fill the cones. Used the other half of the ice-cream mixture to make the skull shaped ice cream scoops.

Filled the ice cream mixture on both sides of the skull molds. Wiped off the excess.
Overlay the top half of the mold onto the bottom half to allow for the skull formation.
Placed the mold in the freezer and let it freeze over night.
- Note: Tap the mold making sure ice cream reaches all of the nooks and crannies. There are tiny holes in the mold ( skull back side). This allows for liquid to escape when they expand during freezing. But the whipped creamy is so fluffy, I had no issues of leakage when I was filling them.
Next day, before removing the ice cream skulls from the mold, I wore gloved to avoid finger prints.
I demolded them carefully starting with back of the skull side and then the front.
Placed the skulls in a pre-chilled container.
Put them back in freezer to store them.

Step 3: Chocolate Waffle Cone

In a small bowl, I added butter and unsweetened chocolate and placed them in the microwave for 20 seconds. Gave it a stir and placed it in the microwave for another 15 seconds to make sure its completely melted.
In a bowl, added 2 eggs and give it a good whisk for a minute. To the eggs, added sugar and mixed it well for another 2-3 minutes.
To this, I added butter-chocolate melt, salt and vanilla essence. Gently added the flour and mixed it well
Meanwhile, placed the waffle maker on the stove on low-medium flame.
Poured less than 1/4 cup of the waffle cone mixture in the middle and gave it a press. Let the waffle cook for 30 seconds. Depends on the waffle cone maker. I did not use any spray as mine had a non-sticky surface.
Transferred the waffle onto a place and wrapped it around the paper cone as quickly as possible. Took couple turns to practice it.
- Note: I used a paper cone that I made myself. You can use a cone-esque object if you have any or get a cone maker - available on amazon/baking supplies stores.

Step 4: Bloody Berry Sauce

To show some impact of the broken glass, I wanted to show some blood. What better way to pair the Apple Cider Vanilla Ice Cream with a Berry Sauce.

In a pot, I added half cup of pitted Cherries and half cup of Raspberries (I used berries from my frozen smoothies fruit bag)
Added 1-2 Tbsp of sugar and let the mixture simmer on low heat.
Once the berries were soft, I pressed them to release more of pulp and pectin to enhance flavor of the syrup.
Once the sauce thickened, I passed it through the sieve to get a smoother saucy consistency.

Step 5: Presentation

The extra ice cream for the cone and the skull cone scoops were taken out from the freezer prior to serving.

Filled the cones with the ice cream, I used a spoon
Placed the skull cone scoops on top of the cone
Using a dropper, I added some bloody berry sauce to mimic the blood oozing out of the skull.

That's it!! Creepy Skull cone are ready !!

Thanks for checking out this instructable. I hope you can try it as well. Any flavor profile would work with these molds as long as its whipped cream based. I am entering this project for the Halloween Contest - Food category. If you like it, please give it a vote :)