Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream Shell

Chocolate Shell refers to the magical liquid chocolate elixir that hardens on contact with ice cream. Remember Brown Bonnet cones? Mine were from Carvel. Vegan chocolate ice cream shell couldn’t be easier to make, and it’s a delicious way to embellish your favorite kind of store-bought or homemade nondairy ice cream.

This magic ice cream topping is hard but slightly chewy, super simple to make, and requires only three ingredients — chocolate, vanilla extract, and olive or coconut oil. Most recipes for chocolate shells use coconut oil. While this recipe works well with coconut oil, my taste buds prefer a mild-tasting extra virgin olive oil.

Just use good chocolate for the best-tasting topping, but after that, the flavor possibilities are endless. You’ll find a mint variation at the end of the recipe. Recipe by Fran Costigan; photo by Kate Lewis, excerpted from Vegan Chocolate: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy-Free Desserts © 2013, published by Running Press. Reprinted by permission.

Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream Shell

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This magic vegan chocolate ice cream shell is super simple to make, and requires only three ingredients.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 7 ounces (198 grams) dark chocolate (68 to 70%), finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) mild tasting extra-virgin olive oil or coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Place the chocolate in a small heatproof bowl and set it in a saucepan of very hot water over the lowest heat. Allow the chocolate to melt undisturbed until about two-thirds is melted.
2. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir with a silicone spatula until all the chocolate is melted. Stir the oil into the chocolate until incorporated. Add the vanilla.
3. Keep the shell in liquid form until ready to pour over the ice cream— do not refrigerate.
4. To serve: Spoon a few tablespoons of the liquid shell over a dish of ice cream and wait a few seconds until it magically hardens. The liquid sauce will turn into a firm chocolate shell within a few seconds of touching ice cream and will turn matte when it hardens.
5. To keep: Store the Chocolate Ice Cream Shell in a jar in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. It will harden. To warm before using: place the jar in a small saucepan. Pour hot water to reach about halfway up the sides of the jar and warm over the lowest heat until liquefied.

Vegan Chocolate: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy-Free Desserts
by Fran Costigan is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold
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Fran Costigan, culinary instructor, cookbook author, pastry chef, consultant, and the director of Vegan Pastry at Rouxbe cooking school, is internationally renowned as the authority on vegan desserts.

Professionally trained, Fran was a chef in both traditional and vegan pastry kitchens before moving into teaching over 25 years ago. Her unapologetically luscious confections lack nothing — except dairy, eggs, white sugar, and cholesterol.

A professional member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, Les Dames d’Escoffier, and the Association of Food Journalists. Visit Fran on the web at FranCostigan.com.

• See more easy vegan recipes and desserts and sweets.

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