Chocolate Dipped Sugar Cones: National Ice Cream Cone Day

Today may be National Ice Cream Cone Day, and I'm sure I'll have chocolate ice cream, but what about the cone itself? How many of you have actually made an ice cream cone? A chocolate dipped ice cream cone?

Here's a recipe for Chocolate Dipped Sugar Cones. They may look like weird blobs when you bake them, but they will actually be quite uniform once you shape them. Work quickly, and if for some reason they harden up, pop them back in the oven for a minute or so (before you dip them in chocolate, that is).

Chocolate-Dipped Sugar Cones

Ingredients:
1/2 cup softened sweet butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 egg whites
1 tsp. Madagascar vanilla extract
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup dark chocolate (60-70% cacao), chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Grease 4 cookie sheets.
Using a large bowl, beat together sugar and butter until fluffy. Blend in flour.
In separate bowl, beat egg whites.
Blend in butter mixture and add vanilla.
Place 4 mounds of dough on your each cookie sheet, spreading into 3-inch wide discs.
Bake for 5 minutes or until golden. The discs should still be malleable (do not overbake).
Use a spatula to remove from cookie sheets.
Shape discs into cones, letting them firm up as they cool.
Melt chocolate in a bowl over hot water, stirring regularly.
Dip flared ends into melted chocolate. Let stand until chocolate hardens.