Dairy Free Rocky Road Ice Cream (Dairy free and potentially corn and refined sugar free)

This is a recipe that might very well be confusing to anyone outside of the US as I've heard that Rocky Road is a US original recipe when it comes to ice cream.  So, let me break it down for anyone who doesn't live or hasn't lived in the United States.  Ultra rich chocolate ice cream.  Marshmallows.  Pecans.

Got your attention huh?

Growing up, this was hands down my favorite ice cream of all time.  My dad would take us out to an ice cream place in, I think, a mall and I'd always get two scoops of Rocky Road on an ice cream cone.  The ice cream would always make me SO sick afterwards, but honestly I thought it was worth it when I was a kid.  Now a days, not so much.  It's gluten free ice cream cones and, for me out of all of my family, dairy free ice cream.

I thought of Rocky Road the other day and wanted some.  Bad.  So, I started messing around to make my own.  Not all the results were what I wanted (my daughter was thrilled to eat the rejects however).  Ours was made with pecans I shelled myself to avoid peanut cross contamination and corn free marshmallows, but feel free if you are allergic to nuts to throw some roasted sunflower seeds in or some roasted pumpkin seeds instead.  Or you can omit the nut portion completely and make chocolate marshmallow ice cream (my husband's favorite way to eat this).

One warning though.  This recipe is RICH!  If you want to cut down on the richness, or if you have an egg allergy in the house, you can omit the eggs.  But just be warned that it's not going to have the same consistency.  It'll still be yummy, though, I bet.

Dairy Free Rocky Road (Dairy free, corn free and possibly refined sugar free, depending on marshmallows used)

Ingredients:

• 2 cans full fat coconut milk (I used Thai Kitchen brand for this)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup palm sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp. pure, gluten free, vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped up marshmallows (I used some corn free passover marshmallows I purchased a while back but you could use Healthy Probiotic Marshmallows instead).
• 1/2 cup chopped up pecans (or 1/3 cup sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds if you have a nut allergy)

Instructions:

1. Dump one can of coconut milk into a saucepan and then scoop the cream off the top of the other can into the saucepan as well.  Place over low heat.  Take liquid from second can of coconut milk and place in the bottom of your blender.
2. Add honey, palm sugar, cocoa powder, eggs and vanilla to blender.  Blend until smooth and well combined.
3. Heat coconut milk until hot but not boiling.  Small bubbles should be breaking the surface, but not substantial amounts of bubbles.
4. With blender running, slowly (and I stress SLOWLY) add hot milk to blender through the feed tube (if you do this step too quickly you're going to have scrambled eggs, which is NEVER a good texture for anything but scrambled eggs).
5. Once you have added all the milk, blend for a few more moments until you are sure that everything is smoothly mixed together.  Dump mixture into a bowl.  If there are any lumps, whisk the mixture to break them up.  Cover the mix with plastic wrap and place in fridge for at least two hours to overnight.

When ready to prepare:

1. Freeze ice cream mix to ice cream maker's directions.  When indicated on your ice cream makers directions (my Cuisinart requires in the last five minutes of freezing time) add the marshmallows and the nuts to the mix.
2. Scoop ice cream into freezer safe container and freeze until solid or eat immediately if you want a soft serve consistency.

Consume with a fresh sprinkling of nuts and chopped up marshmallows, if you wish, and consume with many yum sounds.

Enjoy!