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Monday, May 30, 2011

Rocky Road Ice Cream

My good ol' ice cream maker is tougher than I thought! I have been using it almost every week, making ice cream recipes from scratch. If its paddles were muscles, I swear it could have been ginormous by now from all those flexes. All those turnings and churning, it has more work out sessions than us. I'm only glad it could not talk back and demand an over time pay.


The ice cream experiments won't be complete without making  The Rocky Road Ice cream. This is one road I bet anybody wants to take. I mean who could ever say no to the dark as sin, silky  almost bitter, chocolate ice cream with white as the clouds, soft as pillow sweet marshmallows?  However there's more to it than just chocolatey delight.



Photo from: pastreunited.com

The Rocky Road ice cream's name  is a reflection of the era in which it was created. The downfall of the American stock market in the 1929 that led to a 12 year depression. A historic  and tough economic time that caused uncertainties to many American citizens. The inventor of this famous ice cream recipe, William Dreyer,  associated  the cold dessert with the difficult road,  the people of his time is facing ahead  . The creation of this ice cream was meant to give the citizens something to smile about,  despite of being in the midst of an economic difficulty.  His aim was to give his fellow citizen's dragged down spirits a lift. Chocolates has certain component that could make people happy.Tryptohan is an amino acid that is found in small quantities in chocolate and is used by the brain to make serotonin, the neurotransmitter that can produce feelings of happiness. Whether  Mr. Dreyer achieve his main objective,that is giving his fellow citizen a reason to be happy,  I can not honestly say, but one thing I am sure of though, the guy gave ice cream history a very important contribution.

Mr. Dreyer's original recipe used chopped walnuts in it which was later replaced by toasted chopped almonds. My version on the other hand is in somewhat less rocky, which means, nut-less. Hmmm should I name this recipe, rock-less road ice cream instead? I wanted see nothing but the black as the night ice cream custard and the white spots of marshmallows .Its just a personal preference. 


In a thick saucepan whisk together 300 ml of cream, 300 ml of full milk and 50 g of unsweetened cocoa powder until the mixture become paste like and thick. Bring the liquid into a scalding point ( foams start to appear around the edges) . Add in 70 g of good quality , chopped dark chocolates. Keep on whisking until chocolate has melted.Take the saucepan out from the heat and set aside.

Meanwhile,in a heatproof mixing bowl, whisk together 4 egg yolks and 100 g of granulated sugar until pale and thick. Gradually pour hot cream and milk mixture into the beaten egg yolks while whisking it vigorously to avoid it from curdling. Tamper the egg yolks first by adding about half a cup of hot liquid. Do not add all the liquid at once to avoid ''cooking'' the egg yolk.

Put the heatproof mixing bowl over a pot of simmering water. Stir the egg and cream mixture with a wooden spoon until custard is set and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Once custard is ready, stir in vanilla extract. Cool the custard completely before transferring it to your ice cream machine. Use machine according to the manufacturer's instruction. When the ice cream if almost done, fold in  about a cup of small marshmallows and a handful of toasted nuts ( if using).

Gooey, marvelously chocolatey and sinfully delicious!It will certainly have you smiling with every spoonful.



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