I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! This Homemade Rocky Road Ice Cream is rich, creamy and delicious – the perfect summer treat. And the perfect fall, winter, and spring treat – because, ice cream!
So I’m almost certain at one point or another each and everyone of us got to experience the ice cream truck. Am I right? You could hear the ice cream song playing from a mile away and sure enough it was only a matter of time before it was coming around the corner and pulling into a parking space on your street. Now as excited as I’ve always been about the ice cream truck and the ice cream song – nothing makes me more excited than making my own homemade ice cream!
Not only is this rocky road ice cream pretty traditional, it’s also my all time favorite ice cream! Chocolate, crunchy nuts, and gooey marshmallows- can you blame a girl? This ice cream is rich, creamy and has a perfect blend of flavors and textures. And not to worry about the two week expiry date, I promise it won’t last that long anyway!
What is rocky road ice cream
It has been said that the rich chocolate, nuts, and marshmallow combination was first invented and named Rocky Road in the late 1920’s during the Great Depression. Today there are many variations from the original, but it seems the most favorite by far includes the basics: almonds and marshmallows mixed in chocolate ice cream. So while keeping the traditional one in mind, I’m going to put just a little bit of my own spin on it!
What equipment do I need to make rocky road ice cream?
Making ice cream is a labor of love! You’ll need one of these two appliances; an attachment to your already existing mixer or an actual ice cream maker. And yes, it is going to require a solid effort and maybe a little bit of patience – but it is worth it!
Ingredient Notes
- Milk – I used 3.25%, but you can use whatever percentage you like.
- Heavy cream – For thickness.
- Salt – This helps the temperature of our ice cream get colder.
- Vanilla extract – Any brand of choice will do.
- Sugar – I’m using white granulated sugar in two separate portions of 1/3 cup.
- Egg yolks – We need 5 egg yolks – watch out for shells!
- Chocolate liquor – Any brand you can find will work.
- Dark Chocolate – Chopped.
- Chocolate – Semi-sweet and chopped.
- Marshmallows – You can use mini marshmallow or large chopped marshmallows.
- Nuts – This recipe calls for walnuts, but almonds would also be a great choice, chopped please!
How to make rocky road ice cream
To prepare for this recipe, you’re going to want to place the attachment bowl for your mixer into the freezer the day before you plan to make the ice cream.
- In a medium sauce pan: Over medium-low heat, combine milk, heavy cream, salt, vanilla, and a portion of granulated sugar and bring to a boil, while stirring occasionally.
- In a medium bowl: As the milk mixture comes to a boil mix together egg yolks and remaining portion of granulated sugar. Whisk until pale yellow color is achieved.
- Combine mixtures: When milk mixture has reached a boil, whisk half of the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture 1/3 cup at a time. Then pour the tempered egg mixture back into the sauce pan and whisk.
- Thicken mixtures: Place the sauce pan back over medium heat and cook until it becomes hot enough and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. It should take about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally and making sure not to bring to a boil.
- Add chocolate: Combine dark chocolate and chocolate liquor in a medium size bowl. Then strain the egg/milk mixture in and whisk until chocolate is fully incorporated, smooth and thick. This is your ice cream mixture!
- Cool the ice cream mixture: Make an ice bath with ice cubes and water. Place the bowl holding the ice cream mixture into the ice bath and then put into the fridge for about an hour or until it is completely cooled.
- Assemble appliance: Put together your ice cream maker or gather the attachment bowl for your mixer and assemble.
- Churn the ice cream: Turn the maker or mixer on low speed and pour the ice cream mixture into the bowl. Churn for 20 – 30 minutes – this is going to be dependant on your machine.
- Add the goodies: When the ice cream is done, add in marshmallows, walnuts, and semi sweet chocolate and churn for another minute.
- Storage: Pour the ice cream into a freezable container and let it chill for several hours or until firm.
Other ingredients you can add
You can get creative if you like! Personally I wouldn’t go crazy overboard, because I mean why mess with a good thing? But here are some suggestions for substitutions or additions:
- White chocolate
- Nuts – Any nut of your choice.
- Flavored chocolate chips; butterscotch, caramel, peanut butter.
Leftovers
Homemade ice cream will stay good in the freezer for about 2 weeks, in an airtight container. After the 2 week mark, you may notice your ice cream becoming grainy in texture and growing ice crystals.
Craving more chocolate tecipes? Try these:
- Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- Nutella Fudge
- German Chocolate Cake
- Bounty Bars
- Chocolate Rum Balls
- Chocolate Cinnamon Cake
- Easy Chocolate Fudge
- No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars
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Rocky Road Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 cups milk I used 3.25%
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 5 egg yolks
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 7 oz dark chocolate chopped
- 1 tbsp chocolate liquor
- ½ cup marshmallows chopped
- ½ cup walnuts or almonds, chopped
- ½ cup chocolate chopped
Instructions
- Place the ice cream attachment bowl in the freezer, the day before making the ice cream.
- Add milk, heavy cream, pinch of salt, 1 tsp vanilla extract and ⅓ cup of sugar to a medium sauce pan, place over medium-low heat and bring it to a boil stirring occasionally.
- While the milk mixture comes to a boil, add the egg yolks and ⅓ cup of sugar to a medium size bowl and whisk until the mixture turns a pale yellow.
- Once the milk mixture has come to a boil, whisk ⅓ cup at a time of the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture. Continue to add the hot milk mixture to the egg mixture until you have about ½ of the milk mixture left.
- Pour the tempered egg mixture back into the sauce pan and whisk. Place the pot back onto the stove over medium heat and cook until it's hot enough and thick enough so that it coats the back of the spoon, mine took about 12 minutes. You will have to stir it occasionally and also make sure that mixture does not come to a boil.
- Add the 7 oz of dark chocolate and the chocolate liquor to a medium size bowl. Strain the egg/milk mixture into the bowl with the chocolate. Whisk thoroughly until the chocolate is fully incorporated and mixture is smooth, it should also be quite thick.
- Make an ice bath in a large bowl with ice cubes and water. Place the bowl with the ice cream mixture into the ice bath bowl and place it in the fridge and let it cool completely, about an hour in the fridge.
- Assemble your ice cream maker, or add the ice cream attachment to your mixer. Turn it on low speed and pour the ice cream mixture into the ice cream bowl. Churn it for about 20 to 30 minutes, it depends on your ice cream maker. When the ice cream is done, add the marshmallows, nuts and chocolate pieces and continue churning for another minute or so.
- Pour the ice cream into a freezable container and let it chill for several hours until firm.
Recipe Notes
- This makes about 5 cups of ice cream.
- Homemade ice cream will stay good in the freezer for about 2 weeks, in an airtight container. After the 2 week mark, you may notice your ice cream becoming grainy in texture and growing ice crystals.
Every time I make custard style ice cream, it tastes like cooked eggs. I can literally never do it properly. This ice cream looks SO INCREDIBLY GOOD, I might try again. Thanks for the recipe!
I think you’ll be really happy with the result! Enjoy 🙂
Made this recipe tonight and the ice cream is rich and completely decadent. Question about the recipe: ingredients call for 1/3 C sugar, but two steps have you using 1/3 C sugar. Which is it?
I will rate after it has a chance to firm up in the freezer!
There are actually 2/3 cups of sugar in total but I listed them separately in the order that they are used, that’s why you see it twice in the instructions, it’s also twice in the ingredients.
Thank you so much…
This ice cream looks so good!! I actually got an ice cream maker for my birthday few years ago, and I ain’t gonna use it until I move out, and this really inspired me! can’t wait til I can start making my own ice creams, because I also love it all year around 🙂
Those look just amazing! I am also a big fan of ice cream, but never seem to buy it.My mom just got an ice cream maker, I might have to borrow it to make that one! Yum! 🍨
This ice-cream looks soooo yummy!and delicious! Great post 🙂 x
It’s never too late for ice cream. 😉 One of my favorite flavors!! 🙂
Can I omit chocolate liquor?
Absolutely! It’s just there to intensify the chocolate flavor.
Thank you.. is there any other thing we have to use to replace it?
Yeah, you could use a bit of espresso coffee for a non alcoholic version, or some Kahlua would also be nice.
Thank you so much…
Me again! Update:
I decided to omit the liquor altogether and it was looking good until I was mixing on med-low for only 6mins and it kept wanting to boil so then when I went to strain it I lost 1/4 to 1/3 of the mixture. Oh well, it’s cooling now and I’ll update you after the birthday Sunday if it still turns out!
The last 1/2 c of chocolate, is that any type of chocolate or is that also dark chocolate?
I actually still used dark chocolate but that can be anything you like.
Thank you for the quick response! I finally found chocolate liquor and I’m excited to try this recipe!
what is the chocolate liquor and where would I fine this want to make the rocky road ice cream
You can find it at the liquor store. 🙂
I just made the Rocky Road Ice Cream for my husband as part of his Christmas. It tasted just like the Rocky Road Ice Cream from Haagen-Dazs that I haven’t found in grocery stores for months. Dusted off our ice cream maker… wasn’t sure it would still work… whipped it up nicely. I used chopped walnuts which i enjoyed the texture instead of the almonds that Haagen-Dazs uses.
Thanks for posting your comments and letting us know. We love this recipe too and think it tastes as good if not better because we made it ourselves. Glad you dusted off your ice cream maker and gave it a try. Enjoy!
Can’t wait to try this weekend! I’m making for my daughter’s birthday. I’m realizing I purchased creme de cacao liqueur instead of chocolate liquor so I should leave that step out right? I’m not exactly sure what it is and I never drink or cook with alcohol so I’m puzzled.
Hi Erin,
Yes you can definitely leave out the alcohol if you don’t have the chocolate liqueur. The creme de cacao is a little less sweeter and not so syrupy as the chocolate one and since I haven’t tried it myself I’d recommend doing the recipe without it instead.
Happy birthday to your daughter and let us know how it turns out!
This recipe is amazing!
So good that I didn”t even take a photo of it…
The Rocky Road ice-cream was AMAZING!!!! ate the whole batch!
I’m glad you guys liked it 🙂 Time to make some more now!
Absolutely! It’s just there to intensify the chocolate flavor.
I was WAITING for the Ice Cream Queen to rear her head and deliver!! 🙂 I so remember the ice cream truck, and dashing out to get my soft serve cone coated with sprinkles!!!
I wish I had an ice cream machine, but I’m wondering if I can convert these flavours into a no churn version. 🙂 Will try and shall report back!
LOL it was bound to happen this summer! You probably could, can’t wait to hear from you if you do. 🙂
Jo Lambada really? I want to come to your neighborhood!! Do you get free ice cream if you can do the lambada? Because I would def win at that! I love rocky road! This looks decadently smooth and creamy! Absolute perfection!
Hmm…haven’t tried that before, but maybe it’s worth doing the lambada for a free ice cream, eh?
I love rocky road ice cream but I’ve never made it myself. I’m going to re-celebrate and make this ice cream! 🙂
LOL what are you celebrating Maureen?
I celebrated the 4th with my stepson’s partner who’s from Chicago. We did decadent American things together in the kitchen but we didn’t have this ice cream! 🙂 My old fashioned 4th of July celebrations from backwoods Maine didn’t hold a candle to her Chicago memories. LOL
Ah, it’s never too late!! 🙂