I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!!  I don't know about you but my favorite treat anytime of the year is ice cream!  While sketching up some new 4th of July paper product designs I came up with an idea for red, white and blue dipped ice cream cones.  Instead of just keeping them on paper I decided to bring them to life! Here's the happy dipped cone family:  mom, dad and baby! ; )

If you are planning to serve ice cream on the 4th of July you could make a little ice cream bar like this one! When I was little we usually made homemade ice cream around the 4th.  We made it with the older machines that you had to keep adding ice and salt around the container.  I'm not sure why we only made it once a year, but that was usually the tradition.  Did you make homemade ice cream growing up?

Here's the supplies you'll need, they're probably pretty obvious but I'll list them anyways:  ice cream cones, vanilla candy melts in red, white and blue and sprinkles!  Tip:  Navy blue candy melts are kind of hard to find.  I found mine at Hobby Lobby.  You can also use white candy melts and blue candy coloring to make navy too if you can't find navy ones available.

How to make them.  Again it's probably kind of obvious but I'll let you know the steps I took.  I used coffee mugs to melt the candy melts.  I microwave the melts in about 15-20 second intervals, stirring between each time till smooth and melted.  You want to microwave chocolate in small time frames because it can scorch/burn very quickly.  Now you are ready to dip!  If you've ever dipped things in chocolate before you know the first few things you dip usually come out looking bad until you get a little rhythm and system to your dipping.  I thought I'd be able to just dip them the whole way to the line on the cone but that ended up to be too much chocolate.  When I added sprinkles to the chocolate and placed them on wax paper to dry all the chocolate and sprinkles started heading south and began to pool on the wax paper.  So I had to change my method of dipping.  I dipped the cone about half way between the top edge and the line where I wanted to stop then used a teaspoon to apply the rest around the sides while holding it over the mug for whatever dripped off.  In general you just want to cover the cone lightly with chocolate so it's not too heavy, add the sprinkles to it while it's still wet and lay it on wax paper top side down to harden.  Tip:  Half of the reg. size cones I bought were broken on top so you might want to buy an extra box if you want them to look really nice and not look like a bite was taken out of them! ; )  Use those broken ones as your "test" cones to dip first and get your own system down then move on to the better ones.  You could make these cones a few weeks ahead of time and store in an air tight container in a cool dry place till you are ready to use them.

Seeing stars!  I bought this green rubber star mold last year from the $1.00 section at Target.  It was actually labeled as an ice cube tray but I thought maybe I could use it for a chocolate mold.  I used some of my left over melted chocolate to make stars to match my cones.  I used a teaspoon to plop some chocolate in the molds, tapped the mold on the table so the chocolate would level out then added sprinkles while the chocolate was still wet.  I put the mold in the freezer for about 3-5 minutes to speed up the drying time.  The chocolates were a little hard to get out of the mold and took a little coaxing to get out.  A real candy mold would have worked better but this ice cube tray worked for my needs.

Another shot of the happy little family!

Dipped cones ready and at attention to hold ice cream!

Baby ice cream cones!  Could they be any cuter?  I've had these in my pantry for awhile and finally got them out to play with!  Great for portion control, unless you eat about 6 of them! ; )

Sprinkles...they just make you smile!

So what's your favorite ice cream flavor?  I'm not sure if I can pick just one but peanut butter and cookie dough are typically my favorites!  Although I'd probably eat almost any flavor you put in front of me! Looking for more red, white and blue fun?  Come follow my 4th of July Pinterest Board! Linked Up At:  SNAP, Tatertots & Jello, Whipperberry What’s Baking is a section on my blog where I share various items I’ve been making and baking!  I’ve loved to bake since I was little!  Some recipes or creations I’ve made up myself and some are things I’ve made from my way too many Pinterest boards and from way too many bloggers I follow.  To take a look at some other things I’ve been baking go here!