This Popular Ice Cream Trend Is So Easy To Recreate At Home

We're a sucker for ice cream with a crunchy coating, as seen in our beloved Dairy Queen Magic Shell hack. Most people think about dipping ice cream in coconut oil-infused chocolate to create a shell, or maybe thinned out peanut butter. When you mention dipping vanilla ice cream in clarified butter, some eyes are bound to pop ... but that's exactly what's been going on since the dawn of the new year over on TikTok. Content creators are reeling (see what we did there?) from the audacious genius of those who create a buttery shell on their ice cream. Best of all, you don't need to go to a speciality store to enjoy this weird, wonderful treat ... it's easy-peasy to make at home.

Butter-dipped cones may have originated at Papa d'Amour, Dominique Ansel's New York City bakery. Ansel, no stranger to virality as the creator of the doorbusting cronut, created his dipped cone with French butter. He hides a tab of mochi in the base of the cone, swirls it high, and dips the swirl in butter for a salty, sunny shell. After it went gangbusters on social media, Northeast grocery store Stew Leonard's picked up the torch, serving butter-dipped soft serve.

To make a variation on this surprising treat at home, all you need is ice cream, cones, and your choice of melted butter. Clarified butter will look the "cleanest" when it freezes, but it's not strictly necessary. Just scoop your ice cream into the cone. You can either drizzle your cone generously with melted butter, which is the easiest way, or melt a large enough quantity of butter to fill a bowl so that you can dip the ice cream. When the butter hits the freezing ice cream, it creates a solid, golden-yellow shell!

There's a difference between gelato and ice cream, and soft serve is its own creature as well. Luckily, it doesn't really matter which option you choose to fill your cone. Be warned that those who have tried butter-dipped ice cream caution that the dessert is incredibly rich, so you may not want to pile the ice cream as high as you normally might. We've discussed the pairing of brown butter and vanilla in savory dishes; now, we're inspired to try it out with our dipped cones. Compared to plain salted butter, brown butter is nuttier and has more pronounced toffee notes, both of which pair delightfully with a high-quality vanilla ice cream to create something truly indulgent. A sprinkle of flaky sea salt takes things right over the top. Keep in mind that you want your ice cream well and truly frozen for the "magic shell" effect to happen!

Almost everyone who tries the butter-dipped ice cream trend does it with vanilla ice cream in a cone, but we say, why limit yourself? You could use the butter as a sundae topping, especially with equally-savory peanuts, or as a contrast with some chocolate fudge to counteract the sweetness. We'd also love to try butter topping on a butter pecan ice cream, cookie dough, or anything containing caramel. If you can scoop it, you can dip it! Keep in mind that you need not waste any excess butter if you decide to melt enough to dip a cone ... just pour it into a container and refrigerate it. It will be ready to melt again when you make another butter cone, which we bet you'll be doing tout suite!