These easy holiday treats are fun for kids of all ages - and they go great with gingerbread houses!
Table of Contents
🗝️ Key takeaways
- Making beautiful sugar cone Christmas trees is a great activity to keep your little ones occupied at holiday parties—okay, and adults, too!
- Ice cream cone Christmas trees are a perfect way to add some extra pizazz to your holiday dessert table.
- The best part of these edible holiday centerpieces is that you can decorate them however you want and fill them with your favorite candy.
I can’t think of a more fun activity to enjoy with your kids during the holiday season than making an edible Christmas craft, especially one filled with a sweet secret.
Creating this classic Christmas treat is easy—all you need are a few simple ingredients and a heart full of holiday cheer!
🧾 Ingredients
This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the green recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.
📖 Variations
- If you’re low on time, grab tubs of store-bought frosting at your local grocery store instead of making the green icing from scratch. Beware, one reason I use royal icing is that it hardens. The kind from the store stays soft and gets on everything.
- You can use either sugar cones or waffle cones—just make sure it’s a flat-top cone. Otherwise, your Christmas trees will tip over!
- Ditch store-bought snickerdoodles and make your own. Find my easy old-fashioned snickerdoodle cookie recipe later in this post.
- You can skip the cookie base if you want. Instead, build your Christmas tree sugar cones on a small piece of parchment paper or wax paper.
- Sprinkles come in all shapes, colors, and sizes, so get creative! Use ones shaped like ornaments, hearts, snowflakes, or gingerbread men.
- Use halved or mini M&Ms instead of sprinkles for the Christmas lights on your sugar cone trees.
- Give it a snow-covered look with some white sprinkles, white sugar pearls, shredded coconut, or powdered sugar on the green frosting!
🔪 Instructions
This is an overview of the instructions. Full instructions are in the green recipe card at the bottom of the page.
🥫 How to store leftovers
Filled Christmas tree cones are best the same day they’re made. I doubt you’ll have any left on your holiday dessert table, though!
If your kids haven’t gobbled ‘em all up, store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 5 days. Just know that the icing on ice cream cone Christmas trees will dry out a little the longer they sit.
I don’t recommend freezing sugar cone Christmas trees.
💭 Things to know
Expert Tip: Make sure to thoroughly wipe your stand mixer or large bowl with lemon juice/white vinegar to remove any oily residue. This is key to achieving the desired consistency of icing since oil ruins its texture.
- Pour the powdered sugar through a sifter or sieve to remove any clumps. This step isn’t necessary, but it makes a really smooth icing.
- Your egg whites must be at room temperature in order for them to whip up properly! Let 'em sit out for an hour or so before you get started.
- Add less green food coloring to your white frosting for a light green tree, or add extra drops to make a dark pine color.
- Using a star tip or leaf tip on your piping bag will make your Christmas tree cones look more realistic with a leaf-like pattern.
- Start icing your sugar cones from the rim of the cone and move upwards in vertical rows all the way up to the top of the cone, repeating this process until you cover the whole thing with green frosting. This technique will keep the tree shape neat and consistent.
- Don’t forget to place a star-shaped sprinkle on top of the sugar cone!
- Serve your sugar cone Christmas trees on a rimmed cookie sheet to prevent them from sliding off the edges during transport.
👩🍳 FAQs
You can! Although your ice cream cone Christmas trees won’t look as realistic without the star tip and a piping bag, icing the sugar cones with the royal icing and a knife works fine too.
Absolutely! Use your favorite candy. Any small, bite-sized treat'll do, like Reese’s Pieces or mini cups, Skittles, sprinkles, peppermints, candy cane bits, white chocolate chips, gumdrops, jelly beans, sugar pearls, tiny edible hearts—the possibilities are endless!
Sure! Sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, gingerbread snaps, and molasses crinkle cookies also work really well. Just make sure the cookies have a flat surface and are large enough to completely cover the bottom of the cone.
📚 Related recipes
- Looking for another fun Christmas treat? Learn how to make a graham cracker gingerbread house step by step with this easy recipe.
- Make the base of your Christmas tree cones from scratch with this Old-Fashioned Snickerdoodle Cookies recipe. It’s a vintage, family-favorite recipe with all the chewy deliciousness you know and love!
🫶 Restless Chipotle recommends
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I like these disposable icing bags a lot.
You'll need a star tip to make the boughs of the tree.
A good stand mixer is a must when making royal icing.
📞 The last word
I just love these trees!
They are so festive and so much fun to make! Keep the ingredients on hand and you'll have a great family project when it's too icky to be outside.
If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need.
If you love this recipe please comment below and give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖 Recipe
Sugar Cone Christmas Trees
Print Pin Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 2 egg whites, room temperature
- 1 tsp. lemon juice
- pinch cream of tartar
- 1-2 tsp. green gel food coloring
- 6 ice cream sugar cones
- 6 cookies, I used store-bought snickerdoodles
- m& m’s candies
- Assorted candies or sprinkles for decorating
Instructions
- Prepare the royal icing. Rinse mixing bowl with lemon juice or white vinegar.
- Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar at high speed until they are foamy.
- Add the sugar, lemon juice, and green food coloring.
- Beat at high speed until thick and fluffy.
- Transfer royal icing to a piping bag that has been fitted with a star tip. Set aside.
- Fill each ice cream cone with M & m’s.
- Pipe around the open edge of the sugar cone, and gently place a cookie (upside-down) over the icing.
- Carefully and slowly flip the cone and cookie to create the tree base.
- Pipe the “leaves”. Beginning at the base of the tree, add small dollops of the green royal icing over the cone by squeezing the bag, releasing a small amount of icing, then lifting straight up off the dollop. Continue this technique until the entire surface of the cone is covered.
- Decorate the tree using star candies for the tops, licorice rope as a garland, and assorted candies or sprinkles as ornaments.
- Allow the trees to set and harden at room temperature for an hour.
Notes
Chocolate-dipped sugar cones are a great alternative to a plain sugar cone. Tips:
- Pour the powdered sugar through a sifter or sieve to remove any clumps. This step isn’t necessary, but it makes a really smooth icing.
- Your egg whites must be at room temperature in order for them to whip up properly! Let 'em sit out for an hour or so before you get started.
- Add less green food coloring to your white frosting for a light green tree, or add extra drops to make a dark pine color.
- Using a star tip or leaf tip on your piping bag will make your Christmas tree cones look more realistic with a leaf-like pattern.
- Start icing your sugar cones from the rim of the cone and move upwards in vertical rows all the way up to the top of the cone, repeating this process until you cover the whole thing with green frosting. This technique will keep the tree shape neat and consistent.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
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