Rocky Road Freeze (Ice Cream Recipe)

We are in the middle of holiday baking and my pantry is stocked to the brim full of goods to make any treat one may desire! Of course, I needed recipes to make the treats. So, I opened up the "recipe drawer." It is the heaviest drawer in my kitchen and holds all the magazine leaflets and recipe cards I have collected over the years. Sadly, I have never gone through this drawer to throw out the recipes from my pre-gluten-free days. Thus, I dug out one folder titled "holiday goodies" and started tossing out recipes I would never make.

As I was tossing out recipes here and there, I came to the last few scraps of paper in this folder and found ice cream treats. Ones that are naturally gluten free and do not require an ice cream maker! I do have an ice cream maker (we actually had to buy a larger one as we make all homemade ice cream now) but I thought it would be nice to forego that option and try a freezer method instead.

The recipe is Rocky Road Freeze and was submitted to Taste of Home by Sheila Berry of Carrying Place, Ontario. Please do not ask me what magazine issue this was from, but it must have been an old one. I did notice that Taste of Home magazine did post this recipe to its website now. I was extremely happy about this as it did not win the grand prize in the recipe contest for nothing!

Doesn't that look just absolutely delicious? All the creamy richness with chocolate goodness and peanuts and marshmallows to boot. I love this ice cream! It reminds me of a trip my family and I took to Rollag, MN where we went to the largest steam thresher's reunion in the country. They had booths that served old-fashioned, traditional ice cream cones and I had Rocky Road. I had never had this flavor of ice cream before and it quickly became my absolute all time favorite! Ahhh, I miss the good ol' days. Okay, I was not alive in the good ol' days; but, at least we still have recipes to bring us back in time.

So.... without further ado, here is the recipe for Rocky Road Freeze:

Ingredients:

2 cups Whipping Cream
1 can (14 ounces) Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 cup Chocolate Syrup
1 cup Miniature Marshmallows
1/2 cup Miniature Chocolate Chips
1/2 cup chopped Salted Peanuts

Using a stand mixer or electric hand mixer, whip the whipping cream in a large bowl until it forms stiff peaks. Set aside. In a small bowl, stir the milk and syrup together until combined. Fold this chocolate mixture into the whipped cream. Finally add the marshmallows, chocolate chips, and peanuts to the mixture and fold until combined. Make sure not to fold the mixture too much or you will lose all the air you whipped into the cream. Transfer this mixture to a freezer-proof container and put in you freezer for at least 5 hours or until firm. Ideally, you can freeze this overnight. Make sure to remove from the freezer 10 minutes before serving. Yields approximately 1 1/2 quarts.

I used regular chocolate chips when I made mine and just took a knife and chopped them. It still turned out great. Please go ahead and substitute different nuts to your taste and create your own version of this frozen masterpiece!

I hope you have happy holidays and enjoy many gluten free goodies!