Back when I was a kid, waaaaay back in the late '70s and early '80s, I was a Magic Shell junkie. I had whole rituals devoted to the stuff -- and always made sure to put enough on so that there'd be hard chunks to pry up once the ice cream was gone. By the end of the summer, I'd eat it off of frozen spoons, scraping thin layers of the hard stuff off with my front teeth. I'm drooling a bit just thinking about it.
One sad, sad day, I stopped and read the label. Horrorstruck I swore never to eat it again. Seriously, stop sometime when you're in the dessert topping aisle and glance at the label. The wonders of modernfood science, indeed.
And so I gave it up.
Until I got pregnant with my second baby and was eight months gone in July. The temps hovered in the upper '80s. I was the size of Pluto, back when it was still a planet. We had no AC. Ice cream was my only delight, my only love. Magic Shell whispered my name one day at the grocery. For three long, hot weeks, I mainlined the stuff, suffused with guilt but so very happy.
I wish I'd known then that you could make your own Magic Shell with just a couple of ingredients, namely coconut oil and chocolate. While it still isn't health food, this recipe does give you some quality control and eliminates all of the stabilizers, etc, that are hard to pronounce.
I'm not sure yet if I'm strong enough to have this in my kitchen again, especially since ice cream season is just around the corner. But I might have to give it a try, just for you, dear readers, to let you know how it compares.
Photo credit: McAuliflower
