shell
Brownie Points » Make Your Own Junk Food: Homemade Magic Shell
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Brownie Points
a good girl's notebookof her culinary world
Dessert, Recipes, Vegan
Make Your Own Junk Food: Homemade Magic Shell
Friday, March 28, 2008
“I’m making magic shell for Allison’s birthday present!” I excitedly whispered to my coworkers all last week. Allison’s recent stories of indulging in this childhood treat as her comfort food had put this easily dismissed ice cream treat front and center in my mind.
“Oh wow- I haven’t had that since I was a kid!” was the most common reply I received. However, it was the question from my Chinese coworker that really made my brow furrow in an attempt at a reply: “What is Magic Shell?”
Beyond the mystery industry ingredients used by Smucker- what is Magic Shell’s functionality?
Why not just melt up chocolate and pour that over ice cream? It will harden into a shell with snap, just like Magic Shell. One can do that, I definitely have. However, melting chocolate for ice cream tends to yield a topping that would be more accurately described as Magic Glop. The thick layer that melted chocolate over ice cream yields is a formidable force to your spoon- one that will squish the ice cream underneath- not exactly a thin shell.
Additionally, chocolate’s temperature range in which it remains a fast running syrup like liquid is a small window. One that a teenager at a microwave will likely have little patience to experiment with on a weekly (or daily) basis. A free flowing liquid like syrup is easier to pour on ice cream to achieve a thin shell easily snapped with a spoon. Hence, why there is such a thing as Magic Shell in the world.
All this translates into a good science lab example on melting points of mixtures. The melting point of a mixture will be lower than the melting point of mixtures components individually, a property exploited by this topping. Homemade magic shell will melt easier than chocolate, and stay liquid longer too.
How to Make Magic Shell at Home
Food blogger Naomi Poe has a recipe on her blog the Accidental Vegetarian that sounds like the best way to make magic shell. It doesn’t use butter, as a lot of other recipes online do, but instead uses coconut oil, our favorite multitasker! Theoretically, with the correct chocolate, you can even make Magic Shell vegan (the mind boggles at the discongruities in that statement).
Poe’s basic recipe is to simply melt together coconut oil (1 cup) and eating chocolate (1 - 2 cups), adding more chocolate than coconut oil.
At home, I found the following weights to work well for measuring out the ingredients for the Magic Shell recipe:
150 g finely chopped eating chocolate
100 g of refined coconut oil*
pinch of salt
* I feel that using a touch of unrefined virgin coconut oil helps aid in the elusive “fake” flavor that store bought Magic Shell imparts. If you really want to go the nostalgia route, try out 80 g refined coconut oil + 20 g unrefined virgin coconut oil.
Combine the ingredients in a pyrex or glass bowl and melt in the microwave till almost, but not completely liquid. Stir to finish the melting outside of the microwave.
Pour melted mixture into a squeeze bottle or recycled pancake or maple syrup container. The mixture does not need to be refrigerated for storage. It will be liquid at room temperature in the warm summer months, and will be hard during the winter.
To reheat the Magic Shell to drizzle on your favorite frozen dessert, heat in the microwave (~ 40 seconds twice at 80% power), or sit the closed container in a cup of hot water for about 10 minutes.
Making different flavors and varieties of Magic Shell
Starting from the basic recipe format, several varieties of Magic Shell can be made in your kitchen.
Altering the fat affects flavor
Coconut oil comes in two basic varieties, refined and virgin. Refined coconut oil acts as a neutral fat with minimal flavor. Using virgin unrefined coconut oil imparts a light coconut flavor.
Altering the chocolate changes flavor
Any chocolate can be used in this recipe: bittersweet, semisweet, milk, or even white. Heck, you could melt your favorite dagoba bar or other high end gourmet flavored chocolate bar and use that in your magic shell. Xocolatl Magic Shell with chilies and nibs? Yes please!
Adding fat soluble flavors
Oil based flavors will blend easily with your Magic Shell since it is a mixture of mostly fat. Food grade essential oils are great for this project for that very reason, just use them sparingly as they are very potent. Some flavoring extracts found in grocery stores are oil based vs alcohol based. Just check their labels. I didn’t test alcohol based flavorings. They will probably work, though may run the risk of not staying in solution when the mixture hardens.
Natural sources of flavor (bacon) outside from extracts can be gently heated in coconut oil (bacon) and left in the cooled fat to imbue their flavor (bacon) This is a method used in perfume making as some scents are more soluble in fat than alcohol. Cinnamon, teas, and other whole spices may yield up different flavor notes under this method of extraction.
Adding color to your Magic Shell
Using your typical food coloring to make pretty magic shell colors with the white chocolate will be a bit frustrating. Average food coloring is water based, and fights combining with all that melted fat. If you can find a paste food coloring that is fat based, use it with the white chocolate magic shell for a special colored treat.
Different flavor ideas for homemade Magic Shell
I’m a sucker for variety, and this is a great recipe to play with. Simply toggling a flavor with different varieties of chocolate will yield nice variety.
Peppermint Patty: drops of mint flavoring with dark chocolate
Creme de Menthe: drops of mint flavoring with white chocolate and green coloring
Candy Bar: 70:30 mixture of refined:virgin coconut oil, drops of almond flavoring and milk chocolate
Silky Orange: drops of orange oil in dark chocolate
Creamsicle: drops of orange oil in white chocolate with orange coloring
Spring Lemon: drops of lemon oil in white chocolate with yellow coloring
Lime Me Up: drops of lime oil in white chocolate, and a sprinkle of salt on the shell as it hardens
Midnight Chocolate: dark chocolate with smoked salt
See how tantalizing this project gets? One thing is certain, stock up on ice cream now before you resort to eating this off of frozen spoons.
- McAuliflower | (Permalink)
19 Comments
posted March 28th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
defining dissonance: Vegan Magic Shell.
- Sweets
posted March 29th, 2008 at 3:04 am
You’re brilliant, as usual.
Seems like the oil based candy colors meant for coloring candy melts (like these: http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?sku=1913-1299) would be perfect for coloring white chocolate versions.
- Tammy Coxen
posted March 29th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Heh… I remember magic shell very well, and the thought of making it at home is very enticing, indeed! I love your not-so-subtle hints at bacon-infused chocolate magic shell… got me to giggling!
- Mrs.W
posted March 29th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
you are pure delicious fattening evil….I love you!
- lori
posted April 1st, 2008 at 9:41 am
This is awesome and makes me really want some Magic Shell.
- Meredith
posted April 10th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
try it
- bob
posted April 15th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
[…] know, the "chocolate" sauce that hardens up to make a crunchy shell? The mind boggles! DIY Magic Shell, via The Kitchn. [Read this article] [Comment on this […]
- DIY Magic Shell Recipe - Crafts Articles
posted April 15th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Wow– extra points for a recipe with the vital “fake” flavor element! We’ll have to try this!
- Windell Oskay
posted April 15th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Oh. Em. Gee. I’m so hitting the natural food store tomorrow to get some coconut oil! I’m a woman, of course I have chocolate in the house…hehe!!
- Amy Kuczewski
posted April 17th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
[…] Make Your Own Junk Food: Homemade Magic Shell Mmm, homemade magic shell for your ice cream. (tags: Recipe Homemade DIY HowTo Food) […]
- The LC on the DL » Blog Archive » links for 2008-04-18
posted April 17th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Why not add some dessicated coconut as well for a real coconut buzz
- bob
posted April 18th, 2008 at 5:09 am
[…] Make Your Own Junk Food: Homemade Magic Shell […]
- Austoon Daily » Make Your Own Junk Food: Homemade Magic Shell
posted April 18th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Wow! that looks delicious!
- Kevin Freeman
posted April 19th, 2008 at 2:36 am
[…] Brownie Points В» Make Your Own Junk Food: Homemade Magic Shell !!!!!!! Coconut oil and chocolate, here I come! (tags: recipes dessert chocolate magic shell) […]
- links for 2008-04-19 — Mama’s Bloggin
posted April 19th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
I just got through making some and enjoying my own bowl of ice cream with magic shell. I just used coconut oil and hershey’s milk chocolate chips, and it was awesome. I didn’t add the salt because it tasted fine without it. Better than the real thing. thanks so much!!!!
- Leigh Ann
posted April 19th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Now I’ve just got to figure out how to make the toasted coconut shell they have at our local Tastee Freeze that I’m completely addicted to.
With soft serve chocolate ice cream it’s like German chocolate cake in a cone.
- Michelle at Scribbit
posted April 20th, 2008 at 4:43 am
[…] Yummy Update Jump to Comments A few days ago I shared the delightful discovery of a recipe for homemade Magic ShellВ®. I have good news to […]
- Homemade Yummy Update « Anthromama
posted April 20th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Ha! I just bought some this afternoon….
Though personally, the end all and be all is the chocolate dip one gets at the Dairy Queen…MS pales in comparioson to sheen, crunch, and flavor
- Pam
posted April 21st, 2008 at 5:46 am
[…] Make your own Magic Shell. […]
- lance Merritt » Blog Archive » Monday Links
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