Chocolate Hard Shell Ice Cream Topping with Chopped Walnuts
Oh, it has been hot and humid in the Northeast lately, so how about a little ice cream? This recipe is sooo easy. There are ice cream cones you can buy with a hard chocolate shell, but the truth is you can easily make these yourself.
Here’s a little tip you might consider if you are making a bunch of these, say for a gaggle of impatient kids, and you can make some or all of this ahead of time.
Just place cupcake liners in a muffin tin (like photo below) and scoop out ice cream balls and place in cupcake liners. Once you have prepared your ice cream balls, you can place these back in the freezer until you are ready for the chocolate hard shell topping. The other option is to make everything ahead of time, ice cream cone and chocolate hard shell topping (and sprinkles, etc…). If this is your plan and you have a way to hold the cones upright in the freezer – great! If not, a suggestion would be to make the cones, add the chocolate topping and any additional sprinkles, etc… and then place finished cones on their side (gently) on a prepared baking sheet lined with wax paper. And then, of course, back in the freezer until ready to serve.
I used Trader Joe’s Vanilla Soy Ice Cream
I used a spoon to ladle the chocolate topping over the ice cream cones. The chocolate topping hardens rather quickly so if you are adding sprinkles, chopped nuts or any other topping, you have to do it quickly. As soon as the chocolate topping goes on, sprinkle your topping of choice immediately. It is best if they can go back in the freezer for a few minutes to harden further prior to serving. Or you can make and eat right away depending on the “melt” factor of your ice cream.
Only two ingredients to this Chocolate Hard Shell Ice Cream Topping – you will love it! You can also just pour this topping on ice cream in a bowl. There are many options. Be creative!
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2-3 tablespoons coconut oil . I have made it both ways and prefer coconut oil. may substitute butter
- toppings: sprinkles chopped nuts, mini chocolate chips
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Place 3/4 cup of chocolate chips in microwavable bowl (reserve 1/4 cup chocolate chips). Add butter (or coconut oil) and microwave in 20 second segments. When chocolate chips have almost melted, remove from microwave oven and add remaining chocolate chips. Stir as all chocolate chips melt and mixture comes together. Let mixture sit for about 5 minutes to come to room temperature.
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In the meantime, prepare the ice cream by scooping into muffin cups and placing in a muffin tin. This way all you have to do is plop the ice cream on the cone and spread chocolate topping on the ice cream cone.
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Rather than "dip" the cone in the chocolate, it is best to take a spoon or spatula and spread the chocolate shell topping over the top of the cone. Next, add sprinkles or topping of your choice. Once you do this, place the cone back in the freezer to set. These can be place on a baking sheet with parchment paper. Or you could use an egg carton by poking holes in the top and place cones in the holes. This way you can store upright. They are delicious either way!
Update: I recently had a reader contact me about chocolate “seizing” when using butter. I have had chocolate seize (clump and become unusable) at times, but not for this recipe. I did a little research and the bowl and all utensils must be dry – no water at all or the chocolate could seize. I actually had chocolate seize a few weeks ago for a recipe and I didn’t want to throw it out and waste it, so I added some coconut oil and it came back to life (hooray!). I used the saved chocolate for an impromptu s’mores recipe that was delish, and made a fresh batch for the recipe I was working on. Thank you for all your comments! They are appreciated!!
What are your favorite ice cream toppings? I would love to know!
Enjoy!
Christine
I'm Christine and this is where I share my favorite recipes using the freshest ingredients possible. 
Takes me right back to grade school! Lemon ice cream with chocolate shell, my favorite for years!
Paula @ Vintage Kitchen Notes recently posted…Passion Fruit Lemon No-Bake Cheesecake with Brown Butter Crust
Great tip, only tried store bought so far
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Hehe, that nearly looked like the frozen Valsoia gelato cone I tried in Spain – but it’s so cool to see a hard shell chocolate covered topping! I like Trader Joe’s frozen desserts, but I haven’t tried their soy ice cream! My favorite ice cream toppings are caramel and cookie dough!
Caramel and cookies sound great!
Hello! SO glad I found this recipe (and your site!)!! This looks so good! My kids LOVE that hard shell from the store, but I don’t like to buy it because it’s well … full of gross stuff! But, I would feel MUCH better about using just chocolate chips and coconut oil (both of which I already have!) to make some homemade! Yay! Thanks! 🙂
Hi Gretchen,
I hope you like it if you try it!
Thanks!
I must try this! My children saw something along these lines in the supermarket but I didn’t want to buy it because I didn’t care for some of the ingredients – now I can make it for them – perfect!
Reminds me of something I used to have as a kid…only better!
Thanks – oh that’s awesome!