God's Growing Garden: July 2026

Homemade Hardening Chocolate Shell for Ice Cream

My favorite part of a soft-serve ice cream cone has always been that hardening chocolate shell. A few years ago I found out that it is incredibly easy to make at home. Plus, there are only two ingredients!

Printable Recipe

1 & 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil (the solid kind)

1/3 cup chocolate chips

a little extra granulated sugar for dipping (I used natural cane sugar - it does not burn and I think it tastes better).

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder & salt) together in a large bowl. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients using either a pie cutter or a fork. The dough looks crumbly (see picture below - on the right).

Stir in the milk using a wooden spoon. And then stir in the chocolate chips (see both pictures below):

Using your hands, form the dough together into a log.

Then, slice the roll into 8 similar sized rounds (resembling a hockey puck). Dip the top of each shortcake into some granulated sugar/cane sugar (or sprinkle sugar on top) to give it a delicate sugary slightly crisp top layer.(see pictures below).

And then place all sugar topped shortcakes onto a parchment lined cookie sheet (see picture below)