Mmmmmm… chocolate

So this story really begins a couple of weeks ago when for some strange reason I was at the grocery store with my mother.  (And all the kids; don’t get excited.)  Anyway, she was picking up some of that magic shell ice cream topping stuff.

You know, something like this:

Man we love that stuff on ice cream.  Except she wasn’t buying ice cream!  (I was, but that’s a whole ‘nother craving story.)  She puts it on frozen banana slices – brilliant and practically health food!

Except for all those ingredients in the shell topping…

Enter Pinterest (You have gotten addicted to Pinterest just like me, right?  No?  Check out this beginner’s guide.  And if you need an invite, I’d be happy to oblige.  Or you can just request one from Pinterest.  Whatever works for you. (: )

So anyway, I was browsing Pinterest (‘cause really what I need in my live are more time-sucking activities), and I came across a homemade version of the chocolate shell stuff!

Man, is this a long story long, or what?

So I made some today:

So that’s not the best picture, but I didn’t have time to really care.  :)  The “recipe” I found calls for 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of coconut oil.  I halved it due to a bit of a chocolate chip shortage around here (I have no idea how that happens.).  I just dumped both ingredients into a glass container and nuked it for one minute.  They I stirred it around to finish melting the chocolate chips.

Then, I poured some on frozen sliced bananas…

And it’s kinda sorta almost as good as ice cream.  :)

Wanna know how it works?  You may already, but if not I’ll tell you.  It’s not really magic.  Coconut oil has a melting point of 76 degrees.  Above that, it’s a liquid.  Below, it’s a solid.  So when the mix hits the frozen bananas, it goes back to it’s solid state.  Isn’t that cool?  And there’s coconut oil in the store-bought stuff.  There’s just all of this as well:

SUGAR, SUNFLOWER OIL, COCONUT OIL, COCOA, CHOCOLATE, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI, SOY LECITHIN, SALT, VANILLA, MILK.

And depending on what kind of chocolate chips you use, it may not be so different!  I’m thinking it’s probably cheaper though.  At any rate, it was fun, and it made me happy.