When the Road gets Rocky
The month of June can be a rocky road to navigate as we have spent the last 9 months preoccupied with our daily routines and busy family schedules. Now all of a sudden it appears that all hell is breaking loose with graduations, proms, school events weddings and lots of last minute planning with what to do with ourselves, families and children for the next couple of months. It is no wonder that June 2nd is National Rocky Road Ice Cream Day.
Pinpointing the origins of Rocky Road Ice Cream is indeed a rocky road as the stories are all conflicting with a number of people laying claim to be the creator of this classic flavour of ice cream. One such story claims that the ice cream recipe was created by Dreyer Ice Cream after the Wall Street stock market crash in 1929 in hopes that the new flavour would help put a smile on people’s faces while enduring tough economic times.
Rocky road ice cream is typically known as a chocolate flavored ice cream composed of chocolate ice cream, nuts, and marshmallows. The type of nut used in the recipe also appears to cause more bumps in the road but not as much if we ask the question “What is the difference between Rocky Road and Heavenly Has Ice cream?”, as they appear to be identical in their ingredients other than Heavenly Hash is said to be evocative of the holy trinity of confectionary items chocolate, nuts and marshmallow.
Near the end of the Great Depression, in 1937 Jack and Ila Crowe started Kawartha Dairy which is celebrating its 80 anniversary this year. Kawartha Dairy is still operated by the same family that started it and is a Canadian company using local ingredients.
Maybe we all need to simply relax a bit more and stop for some ice cream once in a while. My wife and children are regulars at Lockside Trading in Young’s Point where they scoop up Kawatha Dairy ice cream which we savour as we wander about Lock 27 on the Trent-Severn Waterway. If you insist on making things more complicated than they need to be, you may want to try making your own Rocky Road – Heavenly Hash ice cream using the following recipe using Kawartha Dairy ingredients the following recipe.
Heavenly Road Ice Cream
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups 35% cream
1 cup 5% cream
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup roasted pecans, coarsely chopped
¼ cup roasted almonds, coarsely chopped
¼ cup broken pieces of milk chocolate
1 cup miniature marshmallows
Method:
In a medium saucepan over low heat, stir together the condensed milk and cocoa until smooth and slightly thickened. Remove from heat, and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Stir in the creams and vanilla. Place mixture in the refrigerator until cold. Separately combine all the remaining ingredients in a bowl and place them into the freezer for up to 1 hour.
Pour the cream mixture into the cylinder of an ice cream maker, and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions. Once the ice cream begins to set and take shape add the chilled nuts, chocolate and marshmallows.
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