The first time I had a Dairy Queen chocolate-dipped cone when I was a kid, I was fascinated by it! I mean you have this cold ice cream and this warm chocolate that magically hardens on the cone without melting it! How is that even possible?

Many years later when the first "magic shell" products appeared on grocery store shelves, our family had to rush out and buy it. Once again- -absolute magic and delish! And yet, so bad for you. If it hardened up like cement on ice cream, just imagine what it was doing to your arteries!

In recent years, coconut oil has gone from being a villain to being used in everything and  touted by some as a calorie-burning, disease-curing wonder product. As with any kind of trend or fad, the truth lies somewhere between all the hubbub. Coconut oil is still a saturated fat so you need to limit your intake of it in your diet.

Why am I talking "magic shell" and coconut oil? I found a home recipe for this delightful, bad-for-you, indulgence. Should you limit this? Yes. But since it only has two ingredients,(three if you add a pinch of salt) one of which is coconut oil, and no weird chemicals, I'm going to risk it. Especially, because I only eat ice cream in the summertime. So I've already limited myself, you see?

If you'd rather use vegetable oil you can also do that and you can mix it up on your stove top if you don't want to microwave it. It doesn't harden as fast as the commercial stuff but I think it tastes much better.

Here's the basic recipe.Feel free to join me!

  • One 11 or 12 ounce package of dark chocolate chips (my favorite) or whatever flavor chips you love (just imagine- -raspberry, cherry, peanut butter, butterscotch. . .)
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil or vegetable oil

Put ingredients in a microwave safe bowl or measuring cup and microwave at 50% power for about a minute, stir the mixture and then continue microwaving and stirring at 30 second intervals until it is almost completely melted. Remove from microwave, stir until completely melted and pour over ice cream. It should harden in about a minute.

You can store the leftover magic shell, (if you have any leftover!) at room temperature in a microwaveable jar or container for about a week. If it hardens warm it in the microwave on low power for about 30 seconds or so, until it starts to melt but don't let it get hot.

 

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