If you’re going to eat a treat, make it really good and make it whole, I say. Make it the absolute best version of ‘it’ that it can be. Otherwise, what’s the point? Rocky Road is one of those treats that when commercially bought it is filled with weirdness and far from natural.
Check these ingredients out for the top selling marshmallow brand
- Genetically modified corn flour
- Wheat starch
- Fake, petroleum derived colouring (not all but most are. Use Chemical Maze app if in doubt)
- Gelatin from factory farmed animals, fed GMO grains
- Artificial flavours
- No. Thank. You. Buh Bye Weirdness.
I cringe at the thought of how many marshmallows I used to eat from the supermarket, but as I always say you can’t feel guilty about what you didn’t know. So here’s to getting excited about making our own marshmallow from scratch instead. This rocky road is great for gift giving. I’ve not tempered the chocolate in the spirit of ‘easy and quick’ assembly, so it’s a fridge-to-table scenario for the hotter climates.
The first thing we have to do is learn how to make marshmallow – the real thing! It’s the kind of recipe that once you’ve made it once, it is SO easy to make thereafter – Just a few steps and a little wait.
Rocky Road with REAL marshmallow Recipe
Ingredients
Marshmallow (makes 25-30 1 inch cubes)
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp marsmallow root (optional, but marshmallow root is wonderfully medicinal for inflammation, gut issues, urinary tract, hives and detoxification... Why not add a little medicinal goodness to your treat? I got mine from I Herb. and it's a huge bag to last a long time for many teas and batches of marshmallow to come)
- 1 cup honey, maple or rice malt syrup
- 4 tbsp Great Lakes gelatin powder you can get locally here in Australia or from the US on I Herb
- 1 vanilla pod scraped out or 1 tsp vanilla bean powder
- 1/2 tbsp tapioca flour or arrowroot flour for 'dusting' the marshmallow cubes once they're done
Equipment needed (for marsmallow)
- Either hand held electric beaters or a Kitchen Aid type of bowl mixer
- Cooking thermometer
- THERMOMIX – See instructions further down.
Rocky Road - (you can double to use up your whole batch of marshmallow cubes, but this will use half of the marshmallow batch up)
- 2 cups marshmallow, roughly chopped for varying sizes throughout your rocky road bar
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup chopped, freeze dried strawberries – amazing fruity crunch!
- 1/4 cup chopped toasted nuts or activated buckwheat kernels (optional)
- 300 g 70-85% dark chocolate (i used 1.5 blocks of 70% and 1.5 blocks of 85%. The marshmallow is sweet enough, so for me, full 70% would have been too sweet. Just do what feels right for you here. I added nuts as an afterthought, thus not pictured here
Equipment needed for Rocky Road
- A double boiler set up with water in a saucepan
- an empty bowl set on top of the saucepan I use a big glass pyrex bowl for this.
Instructions
For MARSMALLOW
- Grease a parchment with coconut oil or olive oil and line a baking tray.
- Boil your cup of water. If you are using marshmallow root, steep it in the boiled water for 15 minutes, then strain. If not using, just go to the next step.
- Take 1/2 a cup of the water and put in a deep mixing bowl with the gelatin powder. Mix until well combined (about a minute, nice and super thick gloop) and leave there.
- Take the other 1/2 cup of water and put back into the saucepan with the cup of syrup of choice.
- Heat on medium (NOT HIGHER) until it gets to 110C or 230F – This might take up to 15-20 minutes on medium but is important to respect this step, as it’s about the slight evaporation of water over this length of time, as much as the temperature itself. Sounds complicated. It’s not.
- Once you’ve achieved that temperature, you can then start pouring it super slowly (think ‘thin drizzle’) into the gelatin / water mixing bowl, mixing on medium the whole time.
- Once the liquids are all incorporated, add vanilla bean and mix for another 30 seconds on high. NOTE: If it’s not a super thick ‘mass’ of fluffiness yet, keep mixing possibly up to 10 minutes.
- Then quickly pour out onto the tray, lined with parchment and spread.
- DO NOT REFRIGERATE. Just let it cool and set. This will take between 2 hours – 8 hours depending on where you are in the world. Here in Sydney, it took 2 hours.
- Now you can wipe olive or coconut oil onto a cutting knife and cut your cubes
- Finally, dust with a starch – tapioca, arrowroot or organic corn flour, for that authentic marshmallow feel (optional, though)
- Keep in a container in the pantry up to 10 days – if they can last that long at your house!
THERMOMIX instructions
- In the Thermomix, boil 1 cup water for 3 minutes, speed 3, 100C. Pour it out into a cup and steep marshmallow, then strain, if doing that step.
- Pour 1/2 cup water into a small saucepan and the other 1/2 cup into the thermomix with the butterfly attachment.
- With the water in the thermomix AND THE BUTTERFLY attachment, sprinkle in the gelatin and whip on speed 3, 30 seconds
- Then follow saucepan step for the other 1/2 cup with the cup of syrup until you reach your 110C / 230F temperature.
- Then on speed 2, drizzle slowly all the syrup mixture into the thermomix bowl.
- Then whip further with the vanilla for another 4 minutes on speed 4.
- Pour into tray as above and set.
For the ROCKY ROAD
- Light your stove with the double boiler and chocolate broken up into pieces in the bowl and let them melt.
- Once it’s melted, fold in all your ingredients until everything is coated in chocolate. Let me say that again: Coated in chocolate.
- Then spread them out onto parchment and pop in the fridge to set for an hour
- Wrap and take with you to festivities, or make slices and bon bons with parchment paper for class gifts
- Best kept in fridge and lasts a week… good luck with that!
Kitchen Notes – Marsmallow
Option to toast the shredded coconut in the oven for 10 mins on 180C/ 350F first. So. So. Good!
You can use dried fruits or any other ‘something’ instead of freeze dried berries and really make it your own. If you’re eating it that day, then fresh strawberries are even possible, although the shelf life would only be 2 days in that case.
Want to use raw chocolate? Easy. Go here for my raw chocolate ratios (double the syrup / coconut oil / cocoa powder and forget the other ingredients. That will be your ‘melted chocolate’). Fold all the bits into that mix and set it.
Kitchen Notes – Rocky Road
If for some reason your chocolate separates or gets chalky in the melting stage, add a fat to bring it back together. It’s just been melted too quickly. A tablespoon of butter will do it, as will coconut oil. You can add 2 tbsp of butter to the chocolate regardless too, to up the healthy fats content over all.
So I want pictures of your variations and efforts here! Instagram tag me @lowtoxlife / #lowtoxlife or pop on the wall on facebook.
Enjoy this very Christmassy and delicious treat that is in no way constricted to enjoyment at Christmas. We sure did!
Real Treats. Happy Bodies.
Note… While this is an awesome wholefood recipe, it does contain sugars and is definitely a sometimes treat to relish and not an every day thing. Sometimes where people fail with moving to wholefoods, is we can think ‘oh but it’s additive free, so I can go for it. Sugar is sugar and should be kept to a minimum, savoured and enjoyed on occasion x
Comments 27
Can it be made in the Thermomix?
Author
I’ve added instructions, yes!
Rocky Road. An ole time favorite! Christmas just got a whole lot better, thanks Alexx xx
Author
Super welcome Kirri! x
What can I yes instead of gelatin?? Agar agar? My daughter can have gelatin.
What can I use instead of gelatin?? Agar agar? My daughter can have gelatin.
Sorry bad typing – CANT have gelatin
Author
That’s ok. I’d hunt on google for ‘vegetarian’ / vegan marshmallows. I saw a couple but the comments were negative in terms of results vs the recipe, so I can’t say that I can happily forward you to any of the ones I’ve seen. If I do come across a good one though, I will let you know! x
Gorgeous recipe. And photos! x
Author
Thanks Nikki x
I looooooove rocky road. I’m going to have a go! x
Author
Yay. Go for it. Truly not that hard and send me a pic if you think to x
Do you use raw honey or usual store-bought honey for the marshmallow? Thanks.
Author
Either or will work 🙂
I’ve just made the marshmallow in tmx. It was runny when I poured into tray so really hoping it sets ok… perhaps i needed to boil the honey longer? :/
It’s been a couple hours and really thickening up 😉
Author
Yay! Thank goodness for that 🙂
Oh one more thing – now it’s set and I’ve cut a piece – it’s white on top like yours, but like honey jelly on the bottom, still tastes good but not “marshmallow” all the way through, Not sure what I did?
Hi
Perhaps you didn’t mix it for long enough? I had a go and my first lot was a complete failure- until a friend suggested I mix it for about 15 minutes. So having a go at my second batch. Fingers crossed 🙂
Author
Natalie – how did your second batch go with the longer mixing time?
Mine went like this also. Have done a second batch and looks like it is doing the same. Would love to know how to fix it?!
Mine went like this also. Have done a second batch and looks like it is doing the same. Would love to know how to fix it?!
Author
Hi Sue – Truly not sure. Only thing I can think is perhaps not enough mixing towards the end or speed not quite high enough to ensure fully combined? Stabbing in the dark however. xx
Mine is also quite dark on the bottom like honey jelly has anyone fixed this yet. Maybe I poured the hot liquid in too fast. Will try more mixing next time
Mine is also dark on the bottom like honey jelly. Has anyone fixed this yet? I may try more mixing or slower pouring of hot liquid
hi alexx – herb doesn’t stock that vanilla bean powder anymore. could you recommend another brand or different outlet that may have it? xx
Author
Ah darn it! Yes, it’s very hard to get. I’m seeing if I can get some in from Mauritius at the moment x