Two-Ingredient Magic Shell

It's always more fun to DIY. Every week, we'll spare you a trip to the grocery store and show you how to make small batches of great foods at home.

Today: Marian shows us how to make magic shell at home, with just two pantry ingredients.

There's magic hiding in your cupboard.

It's not Narnia (sorry), not a winter wonderland where A/C is free and centaurs befriend you out of nowhere. But it will make your summer more enjoyable. It will give you another excuse to buy ice cream. It will make these months feel more "yay! summer!" and less "I hate everything, may God smite the sun".

It's homemade magic shell. And it requires just two ingredients: coconut oil and good chocolate.

You should already have these things in your pantry, because if you don't have a chocolate stash I am worried about you and if you haven't hopped on the coconut oil wagon (hippie alert: sometimes I use it as lotion!) then you need to hurry up because we're all fording the river soon.

Like butter, coconut oil has a high melting point, meaning that it melts easily but hardens up once it feels a chill. So melt it down with chocolate, pour it over your ice cream, and watch it form a smooth shell. Get all giddy as you crack it with your spoon. Feel like a kid again.

And then apologize to summer for all the bad things you said about it.

Homemade Magic Shell

Makes 1 cup

160 grams (2 small bars) good quality chocolate
100 grams coconut oil

Note: You can make as little or as much as you want; just use two parts coconut oil to three parts chocolate. Single servings made late at night are encouraged.

Break your chocolate into pieces -- I like to do this with my hands rather than a knife to avoid wasted chocolate shards -- and add them to a microwave-safe container with your coconut oil. If your kitchen is cold and your coconut oil is solid, it will look different than this -- but it will all be the same in the end.

Microwave for 30-second intervals until your chocolate and oil have melted together. Stir well to ensure that everything is smooth, and let the mixture cool slightly before using; if it's super-hot, the shell will partially melt your ice cream. But some people are into that sort of thing.

Pour magic shell over a generous scoop of your favorite ice cream.

Wait. Be patient! Don't touch your spoon until the shell has hardened -- it won't take more than a minute. 

Dig in. Crack the shell. Eat every last bite. Preferably near a fan. 

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here. 

Photos by James Ransom