Rocky Road Ice Cream

I love making ice cream. It's so fun to watch the process from start to beginning. Rocky Road is a classic ice cream. One I had a lot growing up and still enjoy. This ice cream has a wonderful rich and smooth chocolate base that has both cocoa and melted chocolate in it, giving it an intense chocolate flavor. Then of course, added in are chopped pecans and mini-marshmallows. I added in some chocolate chips for another fun element and I loved it!  I made this for my mother-in-law as a thank you for watching our kids while we went on a trip. It's her favorite ice cream and she loved it! It's far better than store-bought.

Rocky Road Ice Cream
Recipe slightly adapted from Annie's Eats originally from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz
Ingredients:
2 cups heavy cream, divided
3 Tbsp. Dutch-process cocoa powder
5 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup of the heavy cream with the cocoa powder.  Warm over medium-high heat, whisking to dissolve the cocoa.  Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for 30 seconds, whisking constantly.  Remove the pan from the heat, mix in the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth.  Stir in the remaining cup of heavy cream.  Transfer this mixture to a medium-large mixing bowl.  Set a fine mesh sieve over the top.

In the same saucepan, combine the milk, sugar and salt and warm the mixture over medium-high heat.  In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks.  When the milk mixture is warm, gradually whisk into the egg yolks, beating constantly.  Return the egg-milk mixture to the saucepan and continue heating over medium-high heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan with a spatula, until the mixture is slightly thickened and read 170-175°  F on an instant-read thermometer.  Remove from the heat, pour through the mesh sieve into the chocolate-cream mixture and stir to blend.  Stir in the vanilla extract.

Cover and chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator. (Alternatively to speed chilling, stir the mixture frequently over an ice bath.) Once the mixture is well chilled, freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.  Stir in the marshmallows, pecans and chocolate chips until evenly incorporated. Store in an airtight container and freeze until ready to serve.