If there was one thing our house was never short of, it was ice cream. Our freezer was jam-packed with gallon-size cartons, and whatever frozen ingredients were needed for cooking dinner were balanced in the empty spaces. This division of real estate was driven by the fact that Edy's ice cream was constantly on sale at our local grocery store. Regardless of how much was still left in storage, my dad would always return with another pair of our favorite flavors. And no matter how often the 2 for $5 special popped up on our radar, it was never any less compelling.
This unconditional passion for sales didn't really apply to anything but ice cream. In general, even if items like clothing or appliances were deeply discounted, my pragmatic parents didn't make purchases unless we were in serious need of something new. We never shopped Black Friday, because the only thing more economical than something bought cheap is something not bought at all! Their philosophy persists to this day. In lieu of Netflix, my parents borrow DVD's from the library and try to coax our poor aged DVD player to accept them; you can hear it wheezing and choking on the disks as error messages flash across the screen. But if you tap it gently, switch back and forth between modes, and pray to the pagan technology gods, it might actually play something for a couple hours. We typically will borrow multiple movies as a precaution - among the assortment, one may cooperate. DVD players are on sale more often than not (who even buys them anymore?) but my parents are squeezing ours to the very dregs of its useful life.
But ice cream... for some reason, these deals were and still are irresistible, the single exception to their shopping principles. And it wasn't even to accumulate a variety of flavors! We always stuck to Rocky Road and vanilla; often we'd find ourselves stocked double or triple deep in each. It's a testament to our family's ridiculous sweet tooth, plus an alarming pace of ice cream consumption. Now, to honor my Edy's-filled childhood, I've made this Matcha Mochi Rocky Road.
It's embarrassingly simple - melt chocolate and toss in biscuits, nuts, and other fillings. Dust with matcha and done deal! I've swapped out the traditional marshmallows for homemade mochi cubes, which I personally prefer since they're delightfully chewy and much less sweet, as to not overpower the delicate matcha. The shards are completely addicting on their own, or as a topping for - what else? the inevitable! - ice cream.
Matcha Mochi Rocky Road Recipe
Ingredients
- 16 oz coarsely chopped chocolate (semisweet or dark - not chocolate chips)
- 3/4 cups almonds
- 1/2 cup mochi cubes (see recipe below)
- 1/4 cup coconut flakes
- 8-10 graham crackers or digestive biscuits
- 1 1/2 tsp matcha powder
Chop half the graham crackers / digestive biscuits into large chunks; break the almonds into a mix of rubble and whole / half almonds.
Over a pot of simmering water, melt HALF of the chocolate, stirring constantly. When all the chocolate is melted, remove from heat and stir in the remaining chopped chocolate. This is a shortcut/cheater's temper (tempering chocolate is finicky but this does the trick well enough).
Lay the whole (unchopped) digestive biscuits over a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Pour the chocolate over the biscuits, then top with the remaining crushed biscuits, almonds, matcha, and coconut. Dust with the matcha powder.
Transfer the sheet to the fridge and let cool/harden for about an hour. Chop into large chunks and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator - will keep for a week, if it lasts that long!
Mochi Recipe (makes about 1.5 cups)
- 1 cup mochi flour
- 1/2 - 2/3 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup water
- Potato starch
Mix mochi flour, sugar, and water in a microwave-proof bowl. Microwave covered lightly with plastic wrap for one minute, then remove the wrap and stir. Continue to microwave uncovered in 30 second intervals until the mochi is fairly firm, very sticky (takes around 2 minutes total depending on your microwave). Dust a board with potato starch, and when the mochi is still warm but cool enough to handle, chop into small cubes and toss with potato starch.