It's a rocky road we travel upon

Happy belated birthday #Merica!  I hope that those of you in the States had a well-deserved rest and a fun long weekend, with lots of red,white and blue cheer.  

For me, this weekend was anything but relaxing... but in a good way.  My parents played host to a large Fourth of July dinner party, their first one in a long time and the first time having a big group of people over at their house since my mom had her operation(s).  The party, although not as rowdy as ones in the past, turned into a rather large production.  My dad only hosts one type of dinner party and that's the full-blown kind.  Add that to my mom at the helm and directing us this way and that in the kitchen, it's a wonder that the two of us haven't collapsed from exhaustion.  But even with our combined moaning and complaining about her renewed bossiness, I'm glad my sassy mom is back to her old self again.  She's gained a good three pounds since she left the hospital and is discontinuing her medication, one pill at a time.  Soon we may not even need the tablet-sized, rainbow colour-coded pill container.

As a continuation of my Great Ice Cream Adventure, I was able to squeeze in some creamed concoction-making time, in between all of the party prep and having promised my dad some genuine full-fat rocky road ice cream.  Yes, I concede, you can tell the difference between the intensely dairy and egg-ed up ice cream versus the non-dairy, zero egg, sugar-free kind.  Sometimes you gotta just "treat yo'self" and leave the raw food diet for the work week.

Full-Fat Rocky Road Ice Cream

Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 cup whole milk

¾ cup sugar

Pinch of salt

5 egg yolks

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup mini marshmallows

1 cup walnuts and/or almonds

Warm 1 cup of the cream with the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan, whisking to incorporate the cocoa. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth. Then stir in the remaining 1 cup cream. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, scraping the saucepan as thoroughly as possible, and set a mesh strainer on top of the bowl.

Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in the same saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula (or wooden spoon), scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the chocolate mixture until smooth, then stir in the vanilla. Allow to cool completely.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Once the ice cream has finished churning, fold in the marshmallows and nuts.