This post could also be titled Great Things To Do With Trader Joes Coconut Oil and Chocolate Chips. I didn't invent this, I am just passing it along from the geniuses at Trader Joes. If you need a little midweek pick-me-up this might be just the treat to do it!
There's nothing better while shopping at Trader Joes (besides the amazing prices!) than getting a tasty treat at the sample counter. On a Saturday night recently after a movie we popped in to pick up a few things. At the tasting table there was ice cream with chocolate crackle topping. It was SO good. So we inquired further and got the very complicated (not) recipe firsthand and immediately bought a bag of Trader Joes semi-sweet chocolate chips.
By the way the woman at the food bar said she believes these are the best chocolate chips available and that she uses them exclusively. That is a pretty good recommendation. I did like the flavor and I generally don't like semi-sweet chocolate. I'm a milk chocolate girl all the way.
My favorite chocolate chips are Guittard milk chocolate which I have sworn by for years. Unfortunately TJs doesn't sell milk chocolate chips as least that's what I heard at the store we were at. So I won't be able totally switching over.
After making this recipe at home I am sure I would like it much more if it were milk chocolate, but that's just me. Most people like a little bit darker chocolate than I do. I have just never liked semi-sweet or dark chocolate.
Here's the easy recipe. Melt chocolate and mix with coconut oil until you get a fudge sauce consistency. When the sauce hits the ice cream it solidifies to a yummy crackly topping. So good.
More details. I usually melt my chocolate in the microwave. For a cup of chocolate chips or candy chocolate I use about one minute on high in the microwave. I usually use my two-cup glass liquid measuring cup to do this because it has a handy handle to hold onto while I stir the chocolate a time or two during the process.
Once your chocolate is melted you can start adding the coconut oil little by little. I keep my coconut oil in the fridge to hopefully keep it fresher. This keeps it a cold solid so it takes a little more work to get it melted. I just scooped it out with a spoon and added it to the chocolate and stirred it in. It melted down just fine from the heat of the chocolate. You can always pop the bowl back in the microwave for a few seconds if you a more heat to melt down the coconut oil.
Two Sundays ago I whipped up a pan of my favorite simple brownies, and a quick batch of homemade vanilla ice cream (super easy with this), and with some serious plans for this new chocolate crackle topping. Let me just say no one in the house was opposed to my idea and it was greatly enjoyed!
This would be a great idea for a dinner party dessert too. You can make the brownies the day before, of course you can just buy ice cream instead of make it, and the topping you can whip up while chatting with guests in just a couple of minutes. It's fast and easy to plate up too.
You can make it super glam if you decorate the plate a bit with some strawberry, caramel or vanilla topping in a squeeze tube before you put plate the actual dessert. Here are some great ideas for plate decorating with sauces.
If you try it, let me know how it goes!
image by kalanicut
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