My kids love heading to the snow cone shack on warm summer evenings, but with seven of us it ends up being at $15-$20 every time we go. I recently realized I could make snow cones at home for way less money, and I figured out how to make them sugar free (without buying pricey syrups)! The kids get a fun snack without the sugar, and I save my money for expensive ice cream to eat after they go to bed. Sounds perfect, don’t you think?
My kids love heading to the snow cone shack on warm summer evenings, but with seven of us it ends up being at $15-$20 every time we go. I recently realized I could make snow cones at home for way less money, and I figured out how to make them sugar free (without buying pricey syrups)! The kids get a fun snack without the sugar, and I save my money for expensive ice cream to eat after they go to bed. Sounds perfect, don’t you think?
The one thing you do need is a way to make shaved ice at home. I have a Blendtec blender, and it makes “snow” from ice cubes in seconds. Literally. Just dump a tray of ice in, press ice crush, and about 15 seconds later you’ve got snow.
You can crush ice with a VitaMix blender too, although you’ll want to google the proper procedure. If you don’t have a heavy duty blender, you can get a great deal on an electric Snow Cone Maker from Amazon – only $23 right now (marked down from $80). If your family likes snow cones, it’ll pay for itself quickly!
Instead of buying expensive syrups in one or two flavors, I figured out how to make my own in just about any flavor. I made sugar-free snow cone “syrup” three different ways: 1) using Crystal Light drink mix, 2) using Kool-aid and Splenda, and 3) using the small containers of liquid “water enhancer.” With all these options, any flavor in the drink mix aisle can become a snow cone (cherry limeade, lemonade, fruit punch, blue raspberry, apple, coconut, lemon lime, berry burst, watermelon, you name it!).
I bought clear squeeze bottles from Walmart for 98 cents each, then used them to hold a concentrated flavoring for the snow cones. Since there’s no sugar in these sugar free concentrates they aren’t as thick as a traditional snow cone syrup, but the squeeze bottles have such a small opening that it’s still very easy to squirt them on the snow. The kids loved all the flavors we tried and no one could tell they were sugar free.
Here’s how I made each batch:
For Crystal Light sugar free snow cone syrup I used one packet (for use with 2 quarts of water) and mixed it with 1 cup of water. I whisked to combine, then poured the concentrate into the squeeze bottle.
For Kool-Aid sugar free snow cone syrup I mixed 1 packet of Kool-Aid with 1 cup of Splenda and 1 cup of water, whisking to combine. Into the squeeze bottle! We used lemon-lime and it was really, really good. If you prefer, I’m sure you could use Stevia instead of Splenda.
For sugar free snow cone syrup made with water enhancer, mix 1 tablespoon water enhancer with 1 cup of water, then pour it into the squeeze bottle. You may need to experiment a little with different water enhancer flavors to figure out the concentration you prefer. We tried the ICEE blue raspberry flavor and it seemed quite strong and not quite as sweet as the other two varieties. It was certainly easy, however!
Each squeeze bottle is enough to flavor 6-8 snow cones, enough for our whole family, and I’d say the cost for one bottle’s worth of syrup/concentrate is under 75 cents. Pretty good compared to almost $20 at the shave ice shack!
Lolly Jane says
Yay! What a fun idea, thanks for sharing. I have a BlendTec too and Homemade SnoCones is on our bucket list. Off to the store to buy packets…that alone will be a treat, I never buy any kind of juice. Great post, girl!
Cassidy @ Cassidy's Craveable Creations says
This is awesome!!! Wal-Mart now carries a drink mix with no added food coloring, I think I will use that for this recipe – thanks again 🙂
-Cassidy
Kristi says
There are some new water enhancers that use stevia instead of aspartame or Splenda — Skinny Girl is the brand name. I love this idea and I keep the Skinny Girl enhancers in my cupboards for days when plain ol’ water won’t cut it. Thanks for the post!
autumn says
Yep! My husband really likes those. I was going to use some for the post, but the color is not nearly as bright in them – which is probably a good thing – less dye, etc – it just didn’t make for nearly as pretty photographs!
christina says
how fun, I just ran across this post via Pinterest, and I had posted about making really easy shaved ice a couple weeks ago (my name has the link 🙂 I skipped even making the syrup, just using a little powder works great if you stir it in.
Phares says
I love this idea! Maybe I can try juices of some sort! I don’t let my family have aspartame. I’d much rather them have real sugar and limit intake. Much healthier!
autumn says
Sure! I think fruit juice concentrates would probably work great!
Danni says
Oooh good idea, we don’t use aspartame or splenda either. Maybe even use the simple syrup like you’re going to make lemonade and just not add the rest of the water 🙂
Virginia says
Stevia is natural so u can use it instead as well.
tom says
Stevia comes from the ragweed family. Be mindful of allergies.
Quinetta says
I use Stevia in my coffee and anything that calls for sugar. I tried Splenda but to me it has a bitter taste. My favorite is cherry.