Rich chocolate ice cream coupled with homemade marshmallows put this ice cream flavor in a top-two tie with Cloudberry Sorbet among our all-time favorites.

Really good chocolate ice cream can be made with really good Dutch processed cocoa. But great chocolate ice cream adds in depth of flavor with quality semi-sweet chocolate. This recipe topped the charts by not adding ordinary marshmallows, but adding extraordinary homemade marshmallows to the ingredients.

Rocky Road Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3 tbsp unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 5 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup whole milk
• ¾ cup sugar
• pinch of salt
• 5 egg yolks
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup marshmallow pieces
• 1 cup chopped almonds
  

Directions

1. Warm 1 cup of the cream with the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan, whisking to thoroughly blend the cocoa.
2. Bring to almost a boil (mixture will steam) and whisk in chocolate chips, whisking until smooth.
3. Remove from heat and stir in remaining cup of whipping cream. Pour mixture into bowl and set aside.
4. Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in the original saucepan.
5. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks.
6. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
7. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula and creates a custard (and reaches 170 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer).
8. Pour the custard into the chocolate mixture  and stir until smooth.
9. Then stir in the vanilla.
10. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator.
11. Freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
12. During the last 10 minutes of churning, add in almonds and marshmallow pieces.

Recipe adapted from The Brown Eyed Baker.