Now that summer is upon us, there are fewer things better than ice cream except maybe having 2 whole months off and not having any responsibilities or anyone to answer to.  Today if I did that, it would be called a sabbatical or worse yet, stress leave–both of which are a polite way of saying that you’ve lost your marbles.  I believe the clinical term is ‘gone scooters’.

I digress.

Actually, the only thing better than homemade ice cream is the Smuckers Magic Shell, that cloyingly sweet, crunchy chocolate topping that hardens upon coming in contact with something cold, like ice cream!  So since I was too lazy to make my own ice cream, I opted instead for TJ’s French Vanilla for my experiment.

2 ingredients are all you need for this magical concoction: coconut oil and chocolate chips.  The beauty of it is you control the sweetness of your magic shell with the kind of chocolate chips you use: semi-sweet, dark or milk.  For an added crunch, I included pinipig which I found in a Filipino grocery store.  If you can’t find pinipig, Rice Crispies cereal makes a good substitute

Magic Shell

1 cup of coconut oil

1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips

1/2 c of pinipig or Rice Crispy cereal

Melt chocolate and coconut oil together in a double boiler over low heat.  Once melted, spoon over your ice cream , letting excess chocolate drip.  Before the shell hardens, roll your vanilla ice cream in a cone over some pinipig.  Shell should harden in less than a minute.  The first one comes out a little gnarly but you’ll find that as you practice, they do get prettier.