Rocky Road Recipe

Did you know that Rocky Road was invented in Australia? It seems like such an American candy, but there are different versions in other parts of the world. In Australia the candy has things like coconut and fruit jellies in it. The Rocky Road in the United Kingdom has marshmallows, cookies (or biscuits as they call them), chocolate, raisins and a dusting of powdered sugar. While I like the idea of adding crisp cookies to Rocky Road, it just does't seem like Rocky Road to me without nuts, and toasted walnuts in particular.

I blame Tori Ritchie for making me take on Rocky Road. Her email newsletter this week had a recipe for it and after that I was a goner. Rocky Road is one of those things you can't really mess up. I think the easier the better. With all due respect to Michael Ruhlman, the ratios are a bit fluid here, you can add more or less chocolate or nuts as you like. I've seen recipes that have 1 part chocolate to 1 part marshmallows and others have 2 parts chocolate to 1 part marshmallows. Of course, the better ingredients you use the better it will taste. But honestly I made this with supermarket chocolate chips and it was pretty darn good! 

This would be a fun thing to make with kids and makes a nice gift too. My version uses nuts, marshmallows and cookies, but no raisins or powdered sugar. The cookies really add a nice crunch and make the candy seem a little less rich somehow (so I end up eating more?). Try it with different kinds of cookies and let me know what you think. I used Anna's Orange Thins in mine but I bet Ginger Thins or Almondina cookies would be good too. 

Rocky Road

Ingredients

3 cups chocolate chips, bittersweet or semi sweet or a combination

2 cups mini marshmallows

1 cup toasted chopped walnuts

1 cup crushed shards of thin crunchy cookies such as Swedish thins or Moravian cookies

Instructions

Place the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes at 50% power. Remove from the oven and stir, then repeat as necessary until the chips are melted and smooth. Do not overheat them. 

Add the marshmallows, toasted walnuts and cookies to the bowl melted chocolate and stir gently with a rubber or silicone spatula until all the ingredients are coated in chocolate. Spread onto a parchment lined baking sheet and allow to cool and harden. Break into pieces and store in an airtight container. 

Enjoy!