Remember when you were a child, and your parents took you to Dairy Queen, and you were allowed to get a dipped cone, and you would watch with fascination as the teenaged Dairy Queen employee took that swirl of soft serve and dipped it into the vat of chocolate, and then you felt like you just witnessed something completely magical as that chocolate hardened into a perfect, scrump-dilly-umptious treat?
Maybe that was just me.
Equally fascinating to me, as a child, was when my mother bought a bottle of "Magic Shell" ice cream topping. My mother didn't often buy ice cream toppings - she made her own, the apple didn't fall far, etc. - so watching the chocolate sauce harden into a crunchy, yet fudgy shell right before my very eyes was thrilling.
If you really want to thrill your kids (and yourself) try making your own "Magic Shell." Not only is it easy to make and fun to use, it's also one of the most delicious things that you can whip up in under ten minutes.
Plus, it's educational! I knew why the liquid turned solid - coconut oil solidifies when chilled, and so the chocolate sauce becomes solid when it touches frozen ice cream - but I couldn't understand why it was liquid at room temperature. Both chocolate and coconut oil are solid at room temperature, so why does melting them together result in a liquid at room temperature? I turned to YMC's resident kitchen scientist, Anne Radcliffe, for an explanation, and she suggested it is a combination of the broken tempering of the chocolate from melting, and blending it with coconut oil, which has a low melting point.
Science! Delicious, delicious science. It still feels magical to me.
Ingredients
In a small saucepan, melt the coconut oil over very low heat.
Once the coconut oil is melted, add the chocolate, stirring until completely melted. Add the honey or corn syrup and vanilla, and stir until smooth.
Remove from heat and allow to come to room temperature before pouring over ice cream.
Enjoy the magic!
Yield: 1 1/3 cups
Half the ingredients - right here!
Chop up the chocolate - but don't worry about chopping it too fine; medium chunks will work.
This would go great with my Vegan Chocolate Soft Serve! Want more delicious treats? Try my Healthy Homemade Fudgsicles or my Ten-Minute Chocolate Mousse Pie (they're both vegan, but I won't tell if you don't!)
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