I Love Rocky Road

One of the things that remind me of summer like nothing else is a cone of rocky road ice cream.

I had my first taste of it as a kid when my family went on a road trip to Indiana to visit relatives for the summer. It was the most amazing thing ever – chocolate ice cream, marshmallows, chunks of fudge, and nuts. From then on, whenever we had the opportunity to order our own flavor of ice cream, that was my first choice.

According to Wikipedia, the flavor was created in March 1929 in California by William Dreyer:

“…when he cut up walnuts and marshmallows with his wife’s sewing scissors and added them to his chocolate ice cream in a manner that reflected his partner Joseph Edy’s chocolate candy creation incorporating walnuts and marshmallow pieces. Later, the walnuts would be replaced by pieces of toasted almond.”

Having been created right at the brink of the Great Depression, the ice cream was actually given the name “rocky road” to give people something to smile about.

And, in honor of today being Rocky Road Ice Cream Day, make some of your own! If you don’t have an ice cream maker, simply allow a quart or two of chocolate ice cream to soften just a bit. Put it in a larger bowl or mixer bowl, and add marshmallows, chocolate chips and nuts and mix just enough that it’s combined, and refreeze.

Homemade Rocky Road Ice Cream

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup half-and-half
1/3 cup sugar
dash salt
6 oz milk chocolate, melted
4 oz Egg Beaters, or egg substitute
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup toasted chopped nuts
¼ cup miniature chocolate chips
½ cup miniature marshmallows

Heat cream, half-and-half, sugar and salt in a small saucepan until sugar dissolves. Add melted chocolate and stir to combine. Remove from heat and place in a pan of cold or ice water to cool to room temperature.

Strain chocolate mixture into a blender or food processor; add Egg Beaters and vanilla. Process until smooth.
Chill until ready to freeze.

Pour into the ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions for freezing. About a minute before ice cream is finished, add nuts and chocolate chips and freeze for another minute. When ice cream is frozen, fold in marshmallows. Makes: about 1 quart

And, just because I’m very easily amused, here’s Weird Al’s music video for “I Love Rocky Road” – a parody of Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock and Roll:”

[image: flickr]