A healthy snappy chocolate magic shell for ice cream, popsicles or even cupcakes using only 2 ingredients. You might have heard of this trick using coconut oil, but my recipe uses ANY oil! The oil in your cabinet right now! Plus two extra flavor options – peanut butter chocolate magic shell and white magic shell !
Healthy Homemade Magic Shell
Magic shell is a delicious chocolate sauce that pours like a liquid but hardens fast on any cold surface including ice cream, popsicles and even chilled cupcakes. Tap with a spoon, and it gently cracks. Take a bite and it melts like a cool fudge in your mouth.
YUM!
I made mine in several flavors, chocolate of course, but also peanut butter and a white version which is a bit different. But with the additions of extracts, flavor variations are endless. Add peppermint extract for mint, add lavender for calming lavender, add almond for a marzipan flavor. And how about a pinch of cayenne for a double snappy Mayan chocolate flavor.
What Is Magic Shell?
Okay, so now that I’ve convinced you you need a magic shell in your life, what the heck is it?
I think you might know it as that famed chocolate shell ice cream topping sold in a bottle at the supermarket. And you and your loved ones may have revered it for the notion of pouring a chocolate sauce on your ice cream to watch it harden before your eyes!
Well, you probably haven’t revered the ingredients – a long list of hard-to-pronounce and probably bad for your gut ingredients.
Wouldn’t it be nice to serve a chocolate sauce that actually makes you feel good after eating? Enter a healthier version of homemade magic shell.
How Does Magic Shell Work?
Scientifically, magic shell hardens because of the oil. Coconut oil especially is solid at room temperature but turns liquid when heated. However, once it is cooled again, it turns solid. That’s why magic shell recipes are often made with coconut oil.
However, other oils work too. That’s because even though oils such as avocado oil and olive oil and vegetable oils aren’t solid at room temperature, they DO turn solid when heated and cooled. Just look at your stir fry pan when you throw it in the sink and run cold water on it.
Oils are also a wonderful nutritional addition to this treat, especially coconut oil which contains lauric acid known for heart health and weight support, and olive oil known for heart health and longevity benefits. And avocado oil? Well, it carries the benefits known of avocados which are vast – avocados are known to benefit nearly every body process that exists.
How to Make This Chocolate Sauce?
It’s amazingly easy. So no need to shell out (haha) any money on a processed version.
Just grab some quality chocolate chips – look for brands such as EnjoyLife for instance – you want as pure chocolate as you can find with only chocolate, cocoa butter and cane sugar. You can also use a bar but it does need to be quality, with only cocoa butter as a fat otherwise.
And choose an oil! As I mentioned, you can use coconut oil, and there will be the nutritional benefits of coconut oil. If you do, choose refined coconut oil to avoid any coconut flavor.
But you might not have a jar of coconut oil in your cabinet. I know not everyone does. Some grocery stores don’t even carry it. So you can use another oil if you’d prefer. I have used avocado oil (pictured), extra virgin olive oil and friends have used plain vegetable oil. All are used with the same measurements.
Steps to Make Homemade Magic Shell
- Put the chocolate in a microwavable container. I love using a glass pyrex measuring cup. Zap for 60 seconds.
- Add in the oil, and stir until all is melted into a gloriously shiny wonder. Let is cool a bit if it is too hot. You don’t want to melt the frozen thing you are going to pour it on or dip it in.
- Now pour or dip! Add sprinkles if you’d like before it turns solid, and then watch it turn solid. Once the shiny wet areas disappear (within seconds) you now have a magic shell on your treat.
Three Different Flavors
I am talking alot about the chocolate magic shell, but in this post I’ll explain actually how to make three flavors because we all need THREE toppings for our chilled treats, no?
1. Chocolate Magic Shell is flavor number one.
2. Peanut Butter Chocolate Magic Shell is flavor number two. To make it, make chocolate magic shell and add peanut butter or your choice of nut butter or even Sunbutter, as in sunflower butter, to make it nut free.
3. White Magic Shell is flavor number three. So easy, actually all this is is homemade coconut butter. It is easy to make by simply blending shredded coconut into coconut butter. Takes a few minutes in a high speed blender. And since it is naturally sweet, no sweetener is needed. It will however lend a coconut flavor so beware if coconut is not your thing.
Tips To Make Magic Shell Correctly
It’s pretty easy to make this shell, but there are few areas to watch out for:
1. Be sure the pyrex measuring cup that you add the chocolate into is dry. If there is a single drop of water, that will make the chocolate seize as it melts and turn crumbly and you’ll cry. Actually if that happens, there is a way to fix seized chocolate – set the pyrex cup into a pot of boiling water and keep stirring until the nasty crumbliness goes away. If it doesn’t really, add a tsp of coconut oil and see if that helps. If it does, then add the coconut oil to that cup and you have your magic shell, done on the stove instead of microwave.
2. Regarding the peanut butter chocolate magic shell, be sure to use a natural peanut butter that don’t have added sugar and merely contain just peanuts and oil such as Barney Butter, Justins or 365 brand. Don’t use Jif or other brands that are full of sugar.
3. Regarding the white magic shell flavor, be sure to use shredded coconut, not flakes. It must be unsweetened and have only coconut in the ingredients. And it should be fresh.
How Long Does Magic Shell Last?
Homemade magic shell lasts for two weeks refrigerated, and indefinitely in the freezer. With each use however, you’ll need to warm it up to a liquid state in order to give it back it’s magic shell qualities.
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Other Healthy Chocolate Recipes to Try
Homemade Vegan Nutella
Vegan Fudge (2-ingredients)
Frosted Brownies (2-ingredient Frosting)
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Healthy Homemade Magic Shell
Ingredients
Chocolate Magic Shell
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp oil (coconut, avocado oil, extra virgin olive oil, or vegetable oil)
Peanut Butter Chocolate Magic Shell
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp oil (coconut, avocado oil, extra virgin olive oil, or vegetable oil)
- 1 tbsp peanut butter (Use a quality butter such as Barney's or Justins or 365 brand. Or use Sunbutter, sunflower butter, for nut free)
White Magic Shell
- 1 cup shredded coconut (Should be unsweetened, fairly fresh, quality brand such as Bob's Red Mill) (Not coconut flakes)
- 2 tbsp coconut oil (you need to use coconut oil here, no other oil)
Instructions
To Make Chocolate Magic Shell
- Melt the chips in a glass pyrex measuring cup at 60 seconds in the microwave. Add in the oil and stir until all is melted.
- Pour onto your ice cream, or dip your popsicle or chilled cupcake.
To Make Peanut Butter Magic Shell
- Melt the chips in a glass pyrex measuring cup at 60 seconds in the microwave. Add in the oil and peanut butter and stir until all is melted. Return to microwave for 15 second increments if the peanut butter is not quite melted.
To Make White Magic Shell
- Blend the shredded coconut (not coconut flakes) in a high speed blender until it turns to liquid coconut butter. Add in coconut oil and blend again.
- Drizzle the liquid coconut butter onto ice cream, or dip a popsicle or chilled cupcake.
Storage
- All three flavors can be stored in the refrigerator for about a month, covered. They will need to be warm in 15 second increments to be turned back to liquid before drizzling on desserts to form a shell.None of them are freezer friendly.
Nutrition
Dee Dine is founder of Green Smoothie Gourmet, a plant based recipe blog, and author of the recent cookbook, Crazy Healthy with 4 Ingredients . On this blog you’ll find incredibly easy recipes with hidden veggies for anyone wanting to eat healthier, regardless of diet. Dee has graduate degrees in sciences and journalism. More about Dee Dine here.
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