Chocolate Shell

As a young child, some of my favorite ice cream experiences involved soft-serve ice cream.  Fluffy white and brown swirls atop crunchy sugar cones, covered in chocolate jimmies (those are sprinkles for the rest of you non-Pennsylvania folk).  Every once and a while I was lucky enough to eat a chocolate-dipped swirl cone.  I watched wide-eyed as the pimply teenager behind the counter slowly dipped my ice cream into dark, creamy chocolate that would harden as soon as it hit the cone.  Oh how I looked forward to those cones.

During the summer months I would frequently asked my parents to take me to the local miniature golf course because it was one of the few places in town that dipped their cones. Ah those were the days.
I always wondered how they made the chocolate dip so that it would hardened on contact with the ice cream.  As a child I just passed it off as another food mystery.  Imagine how excited I was when I recently discovered how easy it is to make “chocolate-dipped” ice cream at home!  So this week, during Toppings month, I bring you Chocolate Shell.  Mystery solved.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Shell
Recipe by Thomas Keller via New York Times, March 2011
Makes 3/4 cup

Use the best quality chocolate you can find.  I prefer dark chocolate so I used Green & Black’s 70% Dark Chocolate.  Serve atop a scoop of vanilla ice cream with your favorite mix of fresh berries. Don’t be afraid to lick the spoon clean:)

7 ounces bittersweet or dark chocolate, chopped
2 Tablespoons coconut oil

Melt chocolate in a small metal bowl set over a pan of simmering water (or use a double boiler). Once chocolate is melted, stir in the coconut oil and heat until dissolved, about 1 minute. Keep the liquid lukewarm until ready to pour over the ice cream. Chocolate will harden into a shell within a few seconds when spooned over ice cream.  Store in the refrigerator and warm in the microwave for a couple minutes before use.