Make Yourself a Stroopwafel ‘Choco Taco’
Oh Choco Taco, why did you have to leave? The Klondike may have stopped making ice cream , but they can’t stop my childhood. I will never again have the pleasure of ripping open the thin metal plastic wrap that held my favorite ice cream truck, and it breaks my polar bear-loving heart. But the flavors of sweet waffles, ice cream, and chocolate-covered peanut butter don’t have to go away forever. You can make chocolate tacos at home.
If you are familiar with Choco Taco, then you already share in my mourning for their disappearance. A sugar cone folded to mimic the shape of a taco, filled with vanilla ice cream with fudge stripes under a chocolate peanut lid. The open cone at the bottom provides just enough dry space for you to hold it and keep your fingers from sticking (that was the intention anyway). Sure, sometimes it came out of the package a little broken, but that was part of the appeal.
Since ice cream trucks and grocery stores will no longer be Choco Taco dealers, we have no other choice: we must make them ourselves. Luckily, we have a few options that not only satisfy dessert taco cravings, but are a definite improvement over the sometimes crushed Klondike-infused low-fat ice cream. The waffle cone is the most unusual part, as they don’t sell this shape (yet), but once you choose your method, filling and stuffing is relatively easy. The filling can be nuts or sprinkles. The filling can be any frozen dessert – vegan ice cream, low calorie sorbet, how about ice cream? Cooking your own at home opens a taco-shaped door for all eaters.
Make your own shell
For die-hard dessert project lovers, you should create your own shell from scratch. There are several recipes for great horns (like this gluten-free recipe ) that let you control the flavor, ingredients, and shell size. For the signature look and thinness of the cone, you’ll need a waffle cone press, but this recipe describes how to modify the batter to cook it in a pan. When you’ve made the standard round dough, carefully bend the cone over a wooden spoon, book spine, or rolled up piece of paper towel until it’s cool.
Change the shape of the finished bowl cone
If you’re looking for a larger chocolate taco, or maybe you don’t want to start from scratch, half the work is done for you with this method. Buy waffle cones from the grocery store and use one of these two microwave cooking methods. One involves applying maple syrup to a waffle iron and the other being wrapped in a damp paper towel , both being nuked for about 15 seconds. After that, the cone is softened with warm syrup or the moisture of a paper towel, and you can carefully adjust the shape. Once your newly formed taco shell has cooled, you can fill it with any flavor of softened ice cream and toppings.
How to make Stroopwafel Choco Taco
The Stroopwafel is about half the size of the original Choco Taco, but it’s technically two waffle halves pressed together with soft caramel in the middle, so I’m not complaining. Using the same wet paper towel and microwave technique as the bowl cone, you can gently shape the waffles into a taco shape. Let it harden in the refrigerator so that the caramel hardens a little. I filled my Choco Taco chocolate wafers with coffee ice cream (because no one obeys me) and topped it with chocolate ganache mixed with crushed peanuts.
After filling with ice cream, place it in the freezer for a few minutes so that the ganache is ready. Ganache should be slightly warm and loose, but in no case hot, otherwise the ice cream will melt. You can use pure chocolate, but remember that you will need a higher temperature to melt the chocolate than to keep the ganache in the same semi-liquid state. Remove the ice cream tacos from the freezer and quickly spread the ganache over the sides of the ice cream tacos. The temptation is to dip it, but resist! If you turn the taco upside down, the chocolate icing will constantly fall back into the bowl, slightly melting the ice cream it touches. Just put it on top and let gravity help. It should install within a few seconds.
Eat this Choco Taco Stroopwaffle immediately. If you leave it in the fridge for a few hours, the stroopwafel caramel will become crispy and firm. Another option is to reheat the stroopwafer and slowly spread the sides to make two thinner waffles that can be used to make tacos. I found this way to be a little easier on my teeth. Either way, I recommend eating it right after the filling has set, while the caramel is firm but still chewy. The filling, topping, and casing will all have first-class temperatures—and besides, who wants to wait any longer to shove any of these into their mouths?
Stroopwafel Choco Taco
Ingredients:
- 1 stroopwafel
- Ice cream to choose from
- 2 ounces chopped chocolate
- 2 oz heavy cream
- Handful of peanuts (chopped)
Prepare the stroopwafel by wrapping it in a slightly damp paper towel. Place the package in the microwave for 15-20 seconds. Lift the flap of the paper towel and place the folded piece of foil in the middle of the waffle as a shape. Gently use a paper towel to lift and slowly bend the stroopwafel over the foil rod to avoid cracking. If you decide to separate the waffles, do so first on a paper towel while the caramel is hot, and then form them on the foil with the caramel side inward . You can always put it back in the microwave for a few seconds if the caramel starts to set. Put waffles with foil in the fridge to chill.
Pour the chopped chocolate into a small bowl. Put the cream in the microwave for 20-30 seconds. It should be very hot, but not boil over. Pour the cream over the chocolate and leave for two minutes. Whisk the mixture until it is gorgeously shiny and completely blended. Stir in crushed peanuts.
Take a taco shell and quickly fill it with your desired ice cream. If the ice cream is too soft after filling, place the tacos in the freezer for a few minutes to slow down the process. Using a spoon or whisk, spoon the chocolate peanut ganache over the Choco Taco ice cream hole. Keep the coating thick enough to cover the top. If you keep sculpting, the chocolate will take longer to set. It is ready to use as soon as the ganache has hardened.
If you prefer to keep them in the freezer for hours or days, let the Choco Taco waffles thaw slightly in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes before eating.