Ice cream bon bons

I have to dedicate this post to Di, who inspired me with her first Ice Cream Week post last week...until that time, I had never heard of Magic Shell. How is it possible that I've lived my life without knowing about this incredible substance?

For anyone else who is in the dark like I was, magic shell is this chocolate coating which hardens instantly and smoothly when it comes in contact with something cold (ie, ice cream). Super easy to make and really fun to eat!

I was intrigued as to whether I could make little bite-sized ice cream balls, completely coated in chocolate. It took some trial and error, but I finally figured it out.

I was initially going to make my normal vanilla bean ice cream, but I was so pleasantly surprised by this weekend's lemon curd ice cream that I decided to expand my horizons a bit. Di wrote about salted caramel ice cream which has long intrigued me, and I happened to find a recipe for it on Bon Appetit, so I tried it. I'm always amazed when plain ol' white sugar ends up a perfect caramel, but that's just what happened, and it's just what the ice cream tasted like. Not a favorite for me, but fun to try a new flavor.

There are a ton of recipes for magic shell out there on the web, with varying amounts of different kinds of chocolate combined with refined coconut oil (apparently the unrefined stuff makes food taste like Coppertone sunscreen, according to my most recent issue of Cook's Country). A few include a pinch of salt and several offer other flavoring options (which I may have to try at some point). I went with the basic recipe that Di posted, although I scaled it down so I only used one chocolate bar.

Ice cream bon bons
ice cream
115 g bittersweet chocolate, chopped
20 g refined coconut oil

1. Scoop ice cream into little balls and set on a tray. (I used my cookie scoop.) Put tray in the freezer for at least an hour. (This was my biggest trial and error...I kept taking them out to try to dip them and they just weren't cold enough to hold their shape until they'd been in the freezer for an hour or two...longer is better.)
2. Make magic shell: partially melt chopped chocolate in the microwave. Stir until completely melted. Add coconut oil and stir until combined. Cool slightly.
3. Once magic shell is cool and ice cream balls have frozen fairly solid, dip each ice cream ball in the bowl of chocolate, rotating until it is completely coated.
4. Briefly refreeze coated ice cream balls.
(Apparently magic shell can be stored, covered, in a mason jar at room temperature.)

Ta da! Delicious and fun ice cream bon bons! I can't wait to try chocolate-coated chocolate ice cream....mmmmmmm.