Rocky Road ice cream—chocolate ice cream with nuts and marshmallows—was conceived during the Great Depression to give people something to take their minds off their own “rocky roads” being traveled. Today, it’s simply the perfect textural combo of pillowy marshmallows and crunchy nuts that people love no matter what the economic climate. Form it into bars and cover it in chocolate and you’ll have an ice cream bar suitable for any market, bear or bull.
Special equipment: For coating the bars in chocolate, you’ll need a kitchen scale and a chocolate thermometer such as CDN’s.
What to buy: If you prefer to buy rather than make your own ice cream, be sure to get a dense, rich variety. Because higher-quality ice creams contain less air, they freeze into solid, slow-melting blocks that are easier to coat with the melted chocolate. Lower-quality ice creams are fluffed up with air and will melt before the chocolate coating sets. Look for brands labeled premium or super-premium, such as Häagen-Dazs or Double Rainbow.
Professional pastry chefs use a type of chocolate known as couverture, which sets up nicely because it contains more cocoa butter than regular chocolate. The only trick is, you need to temper it. For this recipe, we used E. Guittard 61% Cacao Semisweet Chocolate Wafers; they can be found at specialty grocery stores and online.
Game plan: Tempering the chocolate ensures a snappy coating, but for a quicker alternative, dip the ice cream squares in our Chocolate Shell Ice Cream Topping. The chocolate won’t have the same snap, but the flavor will be the same. Double the recipe so that you have plenty of coating to cover all the bars.
In our experience, it’s best to either avoid tempering chocolate on a hot day or work in an air-conditioned space. Chocolate behaves best at a room temperature between the mid-60s and low 70s. Also, chocolate stays in temper for only a short time, so have everything ready to go and work quickly.
See more recipes for homemade ice cream bars.
Cinco de Mayo
Cover with the overhanging plastic wrap and press on the surface of the ice cream with the bottom of a measuring cup until it’s packed into a smooth, even layer. 
Freeze until solid, at least 3 hours.
Freeze until solid, at least 2 hours.
Place the coated square on the empty baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining squares and chocolate, tilting the bowl as needed to pool the chocolate in one area, and spacing the squares as close together as possible on the baking sheet without touching. 
(If the ice cream squares start to melt, return them to the freezer until firm before continuing.)