Quick & Easy Rocky Road Recipe For Christmas

This has to be the easiest and most addictive holiday treat going around this festive season!  Milk chocolate, loaded with Christmas-themed colours of red, white and green and deliciously indulgent.  Follow my easy steps to make my Christmas Rocky Road recipe (it's the lazy version, so it's extra easy!)

I love a good Rocky Road -it's one of those fabulous recipes that can be customised to include just about anything you want!  Years ago I started making my friend's great recipe for Rocky Road and I've never looked back.  But now I'm in even more of a hurry, so I wanted to make a super-simple, no-chopping-required Rocky Road for Christmas....and I think I've nailed it!  Made with everyone's favourite chocolate and filled to the brim with my childhood favourite lollies, plus some of my homemade Italian Meringues (sub for store bought meringues if you like), this Rocky Road has the best combination of flavours and textures for the holiday season.  Add it to your edible Christmas gifts list, because it's gonna be one hell of a popular slice!

Why You Will Love This Recipe

• You can literally make it in 10 minutes! 
• Completely adaptable -you can add your own favourite (festive-coloured) lollies
• It will keep in the fridge for 2-3 weeks, making it perfect for gifting (just hide it away from your kids -mine will devour it in minutes!)
• There's no chopping required
• Great fun to make with your kids
• It's basically a melt and mix and you're done!

Ingredients

• Chocolate:  I choose Cadbury Milk chocolate for Rocky Road, but you can swap it for your favourite chocolate (Lindt is also excellent!)
• Ripe Raspberry lollies:  personally, I think they're a non-negotiable
• Spearmint Leaves lollies:  I love the Allen's mint leaves like there's no tomorrow!  
• Marshmallows:  I use just the white, normal-size marshmallows from Pascal, but you can opt for mini marshmallows as well
• Meringues:  my homemade Italian Meringues are so delicious and stay crunchy, even when the rocky road is stored in the fridge.  Store bought meringues will also work

Substitutions and Additions

• Chocolate:  go with what you love -if dark chocolate is your thing, use that instead!  Same goes for white chocolate.
• Raspberry lollies:  swap for red frogs (you may need to chop them) or even raspberry bullets (what's a little more chocolate between friends?)
• Spearmint leaves:  I don't chop my leaves, but feel free if you want smaller minty bits.  Or swap for peppermint Aero bars!
• Marshmallows:  again, I don't chop them, but if you're using extra large marshmallows, you will most likely need to cut them in half at least.  Or swap for mini marshmallows or homemade marshmallow and feel free to include the pink ones (I just like all-white)
• Meringues:  I prefer to use my (easy and delicious) Italian meringues, but store-bought meringues are more than fine.
• Go nuts:  while I don't use nuts (you get the crunch from the meringues), feel free to add some.  Pistachio nuts are green and festive, while cashews or macadamia nuts add an elevated taste and texture
• Add some Christmas Sprinkles:  scatter some Christmas-themed sprinkles over the top of the rocky road for some extra festive fun
• Swap the meringues:  for the crunchy element, feel free to swa the meringues for Crushed biscoff biscuits or gingerbread cookies (ginger nuts have a lovely crunch!). You could also crush a candy cane or 2 and mix that through the rocky road mixture as well.

Step by Step Instructions

• Spray a 20cm (8 inch) square cake tin with oil and line with baking paper and set aside
• Break the chocolate into small pieces and add to a large, heatproof bowl
• Place the large bowl over a small saucepan of gently simmering water (this creates a double boiler).  Stir the chocolate until it's almost melted, then remove from the heat and stir it until smooth.
• Add the rest of the ingredients to the melted chocolate, crushing the meringues with your hands as you toss them in
• Give it all a good stir, then pour into your prepared tin.
• Move the mixture around to the corners of the tin, but don't be tempted to smooth it out -you want that bumpy finish!
• Refrigerate until set
• Once set, cut with a large, sharp knife and enjoy! Unlike my photos, I cut mine into small pieces, as you only need a mouthful, but feel free to cut yours into large pieces.

Tips and Tricks

• My top tip is use good quality eating chocolate or couverture chocolate chips, rather than chocolate melts.  Melts contain vegetable oil and don't have that smooth mouthfeel that real chocolate has
• I don't chop up my lollies, as I find it time-consuming (I told you this was the lazy version!).  If you'd prefer, chop away.
• Don't overheat your chocolate -just enough so it's almost melted.  When you remove it from the heat and give it a good stir, it will melt the remaining pieces of chocolate and also cool a little, making it easier to set

Serving Suggestions

• Afternoon tea: it’s a delicious festive treat with a cup of tea! 
• Christmas dessert buffet:  add something a little different to your dessert buffet -it's one of those sweet treats that will disappear the fastest!
• Christmas gifts:  if you're like me and love making foodie gifts for Christmas, then this is a doozy!  Pop it into a small plastic bag and tie with a bow (heat sealing the bag is even better!)
• Christmas Ice Cream:  chop it into small pieces and add to a beautiful vanilla ice cream, or try it in my Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, for a delicious summer Christmas dessert

Storage

• Room temperature: you could leave it in an airtight container at room temperature, but not on a hot day. 
• Refrigerate:  it will keep beautifully in the fridge for 2-3 weeks

I really love how easy and adaptable this Rocky Road recipe is.  The great thing about it is you can add whatever you want and make it completely yours.  I know it's going to become one of your favourite Christmas recipes!

If you try this recipe, I’d love it if you could  take a minute to leave a rating or review -it helps to get my recipes seen and for me to keep sharing them with you.