Christmas Tree Ice Cream Cones for Santa

One of our favorite family traditions is making cookies to leave for Santa. This year we decided to give our cookie plate a bit of an Ice Cream Castles twist...

What you need: 

Ice cream cones (the sugar kind) 

Frosting 

Decorating Icing 

Mini marshmallows

Sprinkles 

Colored straws or peppermint sticks 

Any other candy decorations you like

A plate to leave your creation out for the big guy 

To make frosting we used this simple recipe:

1 cup unsalted butter (softened)

4-5 cups confectioner's (powdered) sugar  

1/4 cup heavy cream 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract (we actually just discovered bourbon vanilla and it totally blew our minds so feel free to substitute it in here and pretty much everywhere)

salt to taste (you only need it if its too sweet) 

Beat butter, 4.5 cups sugar, cream, and vanilla in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Beat for 3-5 minutes until blended. If it's too thin add 1/2 cup more sugar, if too thick, add 1 tablespoon of cream, if its too sweet, add a pinch of salt. 

Putting it all together: 

Start by frosting your cones. Pro tip: we colored our vanilla buttercream green by adding some food coloring. Decorate as much or as little as your kiddies desire. We chose a variety of sprinkles, decorating icing, and our fave marshmallows. Turn upside down and secure to the plate with a little extra frosting. Add marshmallow "snowballs" and secure you tree scene with colored straws or peppermint sticks. Be sure to make extra for snacking because they are delicious! Enjoy! 

Happy Holidays from all of us at Ice Cream Castles!!!!