How To Make Homemade Snow Cones

Summer is the season for snow cones; last year when we visited my sister in Montana, we had the rainbow version with 4 flavors of sugary syrup on a scoop of snowy ice at a baseball game.

This summer, when my four kids, husband and I visited my sister and her family there were s’mores around the outdoor fire pit every night plus other special dessert we make only when our families are together. Since my sister is also a dietitian, we were looking for healthier options for refreshment after playing outdoors in the sprinklers.

Enter Homemade Snow Cones made with fruit and honey.

I saw this recipe for Mixed Berry and Apple-Honey Snow last summer in the Chicago Tribune. And I’ve been wanting to try it ever since. While rummaging through my sister’s kitchen (she’s so accommodating to her food blogging sister!) I found the below white plastic “snow cone” holders – actually funnels.

We popped a fresh strawberry in the bottom to keep the snow cone from dripping. It worked fairly well – although to make it totally drip-proof, I’d recommend stopping up the hole with a strawberry plus a layer of plastic wrap. And since we didn’t have enough white cones for all the kids, we also served the fruity snow ice in fancy dessert dishes. (Tip: To get kids to choose a healthy snack over a not-so-healthy-one, just serve it in a fancy dish!)

I made these modifications to the recipe:

1/4 cup of honey instead of 1/3 cup honey
4 tablespoons fresh orange juice instead of 1 tablespoon lemon juice; this yielded more fruity juice to pour over the snow!
Skipped the pomegranate
Used less mint (for the kids)
Our refrigerator worked fairly well for crushing ice; you could also use a blender or food processor to ‘shave’ ice.