How To Make Your Own Magic Shell With Only 3 Ingredients

Magic shell really is magic, creating the crunch of chocolate chunks with the easy addition of a syrupy condiment. While easy to find in the store, making your own is just as straightforward while also allowing you to tweak the flavor to your exact specifications. This is perfect if you're also making your own ice cream, be it a standard vanilla, autumnal pumpkin pie, or a summery blueberry swirl.

The recipe is simple, only asking you to melt eight parts chocolate chips to three parts of refined coconut oil with just a pinch of cocoa powder. For example, roughly half a cup of chocolate chips gets ⅓ cup of coconut oil (and a teaspoon of cocoa powder). The chips, of course, provide the chocolate, but they're also responsible for the creamy, smooth texture of a candy bar when you bite into the firm shell. Still, a bit of extra flavor never hurts, and cocoa powder has enough concentration to boost the taste without compromising the texture. Mixing oil into melted chocolate helps keep it runny when warm, and if your ratio starts to dip too far in the other direction, you'll just end up with a solidified brick in a bowl. Not very magic, if you ask us.

The exact flavors you incorporate into your magic shell are negotiable, but the use of refined coconut oil absolutely is not. If you've ever stored coconut oil in the fridge or pantry, you've probably noticed that, unlike other fats, it maintains a solid state even at room temperature. This is vital to getting a crisp rather than a dense shell, one that sets up almost immediately once it touches cold ingredients. Still, it should remain wet for a short time, allowing you to adhere all sorts of additional toppings.

While changing up what sort of baking chips you use is quite easy, other ingredients may require a more delicate balance. Still, provided you stick close to the previously mentioned ratios, feel free to develop a more flavorful shell with any number of unconventional ice cream toppings.

For subtle tasting notes, try to keep small amounts of highly flavorful ingredients. For example, using a dollop of extra virgin olive oil adds just as much flavor as a larger amount of refined olive oil but won't interfere with your magic shell's delicateness. Similarly, you may want to steer clear of anything with large particulates in it, like using chili oil instead of chili crisp. You can even do something as simple as reducing soda in a saucepan first to remove excess moisture, creating a simple but very tasty syrup.

Espresso powder is a buzzy ice cream topping that is so flavor-packed, even a tiny pinch will be immediately noticeable. Still, as long as you mimic the grain of this fine powder, you probably have tons of tasty options in your pantry. Snack foods like potato chips and fruity hard candy are great when ground with a mortar and pestle or food processor, especially if they're pre-seasoned with other complex flavors. You can even freeze-dry sour gummy candies and pulverize them, giving your shell a bit of contrast. Still, even a little scoop of chocolate milk powder has enough taste and sugar to be a seriously indulgent upgrade.