The Crouton Cone: Your Salad Just Got More Portable

Most people who buy waffle cone makers use them only for their intended purpose. What I've discovered though is that with a little creativity you can also use them to make things like taco cones, pizza cones, chicken and waffle cones or my most recent creation -- a Cobb salad in a cone made out of croutons.

Out of all the ridiculous creations I've made thus far with my waffle cone maker the crouton cone was by far the most difficult. As you can imagine, croutons aren't exactly intended to be made into cones, but after a few tries I was finally able to create a crouton cone that not only looked, but more importantly, tasted great.

I started by combining half a cup of finely ground croutons with an egg and a teaspoon of olive oil. After rolling the mixture into a ball I placed it in the center of my waffle cone maker and pressed down as hard as I could. A minute later I took it out, wrapped it around my waffle cone roller, surrounded it with aluminum foil and put it in my oven for ten minutes at 400° to complete the cooking process. Once my cone was out of the oven all that was left to do was fill it with lettuce, chicken, bacon, avocado, tomato, diced hard-boiled eggs and blue cheese.

Not only did my Cobb salad in a crouton cone taste great, but it also solved a problem that I normally have with croutons in that they always seem either too soft or way too hard. The crouton cone was sort of a perfect medium between the two. At this point I'm also starting to think that there isn't a single food out there that isn't better in cone form...