Treat yourself: Keep your cool with delicious Copycat Choco Tacos | King

Choco Tacos will take Taco Tuesday to new heights with these perfect treats for hot summer days. However, Klondike has announced that it is discontinuing the beloved Choco Taco. Never fear — I’ve created a copycat version that is both easy to make and delicious to eat. Read on!

About Choco Tacos

Choco Tacos are an ice cream treat resembling a taco. They consist of a disk of a waffle cone material folded to resemble a hard taco shell that is filled with ice cream and then coated in a chocolate magic shell. Are you drooling yet?

The Choco Taco was invented in 1983 and quickly became a favorite treat in the U.S. and abroad.

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Because of market forces, however, Klondike recently announced that it was discontinuing this popular treat. Fans everywhere were both shocked and dismayed.

However, fear not. With a handful of easy steps described in the recipe, you’ll end up with 12 amazingly delicious Copycat Choco Tacos, with each bite being pure perfection.

Copycat Choco Tacos

Makes 12 Copycat Choco Tacos

Special Equipment

Waffle cone maker

Ingredients

Waffle Taco Shells

2 egg whites (from large eggs)

7 tablespoons (2-ounces, 85 grams) granulated sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

⅛ teaspoon Kosher salt

⅔ cup (3.2-ounces, 90 grams) all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons (1-ounce, 30 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

No-Churn Vanilla Ice Cream

2 cups (16-ounces) heavy cream

¾ cup (8-ounces) sweetened condensed milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Chocolate Magic Shell

1 cup (6-ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips

¼ cup (2-ounces) refined coconut oil

Directions

Waffle Taco Shell

Preheat the waffle cone machine to a color setting of around 4. Lightly brush both sides with oil.

In a small mixing bowl, beat together egg white, sugar and vanilla until frothy, about 30 seconds. Add the salt and half of the flour; beat to incorporate. Add the melted butter and remaining flour and beat until smooth.

Using a tablespoon ice cream scoop, add batter onto the center of the hot cone waffle machine. Close the lid and lock the latch. Cook for 1 minute and 10 seconds. Check for proper color and adjust the timing accordingly.

Carefully remove the waffle from the cone waffle machine with a wooden fork and form into a taco shell shape. Be careful not to burn yourself with the hot waffle disk.

Cool completely; store in an airtight container.

Yield: 12 Waffle Taco Shells

No-Churn Vanilla Ice Cream

Beat heavy cream on high in a chilled bowl until soft peaks form, a little over a minute. While beating, add vanilla extract and sweetened condensed milk. Continue beating until stiff peaks form, another minute or so. The consistency of the ice cream at this point is like soft serve, making it easy to pipe into the “waffle taco shells.”

Transfer no-churn ice cream to pastry bag fitted with 1A round tip. Pipe ice cream into prepared “waffle taco shells. Smooth with a knife. Place in freezer until ice cream is firm, about an hour.

Chocolate Magic Shell

To make the chocolate magic shell, microwave chocolate chips and coconut oil on 50% power in 30 second increments, stirring between increments until the chocolate chips are melted. Set aside.

Once the ice cream is firm, dip the tops of "taco" shell with the ice cream in the magic shell to coat the shell tops and the ice cream. Allow excess chocolate to drip off. Place in freezer.

Yield: 12 Copycat Choco Tacos

Chula's Tips

•  My waffle cone maker is a Chef’s Choice WaffleConeExpress, which unfortunately has been discontinued. However, there are other options available at Amazon.com. Unfortunately, a regular waffle maker will not work here because the waffles are too thick. You could use a pizzelle maker, though.

•  I don’t use the whole can of sweetened condensed milk because we prefer a less sweet ice cream. However, feel free to use the whole can for a sweeter ice cream.

•  You can easily make chocolate no-churn ice cream to use for these Copycat Choco Tacos by mixing ½ cup of unsweetened cocoa to a whole can of sweetened condensed milk before adding it to the whipped cream.

• You can use either refined or unrefined coconut oil. However, unrefined coconut oil will have a strong coconut taste whereas refined coconut oil has hardly any taste. My preference is the refined coconut oil.

•  There are several ways to form the actual “taco” shell. One way is to drape the flexible shell over the handle of a wooden spoon as soon as it is removed from the cone waffle iron. The shell will firm up in about 20 seconds. My preferred method is to bend the flexible shell into a taco shell shape as soon as it is removed from the cone waffle iron and place the shell in a taco shell holder. I do this quickly so that it cools a bit but is still flexible. I’m careful not to burn myself.

•  I like to put the bowl and beaters in the freezer for about 5 minutes before whipping the cream. This helps to maintain a proper structure.

•  If you don’t have a pastry bag and/or piping tip, you can pipe the ice cream using a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off. You could also scoop the ice cream into the “taco” shells.

•  I like to use a microwave-safe small bowl for the magic shell. This makes it easier to dip the “waffle taco shell" filled with the ice cream.

Chula King is the blogger behind PudgeFactor.com.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Enjoy ice cream in each bite of Copycat Choco Tacos