Summer’s Hottest Ice Cream Cone Topping Is…

…another Ice Cream Cone.  You heard me right.  As ridiculous as it sounds, it’s taken off like a rocket cone, as teeny ice cream cones atop larger ice cream cones seem to have become the biggest foodie trend of the summer.

All over Instagram, ice creameries, apparently stocked with baby-sized ice cream cones, are adding the redundant topping to their scoops. The trend seems to have been around for a bit (this Nerdist article from last summer shows some cone-on-cone action from Afters Ice Cream), but has resurfaced this year with renewed fervor.

Though a small cone popping out of your regular cone may seem ostentatious, it’s almost quaint compared to the monstrous cookie-on-chocolate-on-candy toppings of the past few years, which only serve to compromise a cone’s structural integrity before your ice cream even has a chance to melt. There is something elegant about single petite cone, like a jaunty cap, as topping.

This trend can be practical, too, if you’re with someone who wants to sample your flavor without having to commit to a whole serving. The problem is, as New York ice cream purveyor La Newyorkina writes, people are ordering them, but don’t know what to call them. Cone-ception? Uni-cone? Pimp My Cone?

Perhaps this structural redundancy can help us chill out while the temps soar.  If ice cream does anything, it reminds us of the fleetingness of pleasure—as it drips down our hands we remember that Solstice is passed, the days are shortening, we only have so much of this sun to savor. But instead of sinking into anxiety about all that has been wasted, look to the perfect balance of the two cones before you, one large one small, becoming more beautiful than either could be alone. Go in peace.

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