Goonies & Goodies (#70)
Believe it or not, I had never seen The Goonies, so I was going into this event blind. Thankfully, the internet is full of helpful resources. It didn't take me long to find out that this film features pizza (namely Domino's), potato chips, Pepsi, ice cream (specifically Rocky Road), whipped cream, and Baby Ruth candy bars.
This makes dinner planning rather easy. I just bought some bags of chips and some different Pepsi products at the store and ordered some Domino's pizza. Dessert is where I had more freedom for creativity. Interestingly enough Rocky Road ice cream and Baby Ruth candy bars share a lot of similar ingredients. Rocky Road ice cream typically has almonds and marshmallows where Baby Ruth bars have peanuts and nougat. Of course, the candy bars also include caramel. The similarities made me think that I could probably make a Rocky Road style ice cream based dessert that would contain the flavors and ingredients of a Baby Ruth. The movie also has the famous "Truffle Shuffle," a dance move meant to tease on of the boys. I decided to let this name inspire the dish to turn my ice cream into chocolate coated balls that resemble truffles, but that taste like rocky road and baby ruth.
This recipe does not require an ice-cream churn and is relatively simple. The most difficult and time consuming part was turning the ice cream into balls without them melting too much. If you decide not to do that step, you can still make a delicious ice cream out of this. It is recommended that you make the ice cream at a minimum the day before your event, so it has time to properly harden and freeze.
1 (14oz) can of condensed milk
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch of salt
2 cups heavy whipping cream (chilled)
- Whisk the condensed milk, cocoa powder, vanilla extract and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
- Using a mixer, whip the heavy cream until it has stiff peaks. The best way to do this is to chill the bowl first. It will need to get up to a high speed to thicken enough to make peaks, but if the cream doesn't remain cold while you do this, you risk making butter instead of whipped cream.
- With a spatula, slowly fold together the cream into your coco mixture until well mixed. The result is basically a chocolate whipped cream.
- Pour your chocolate cream into chilled glass or metal pan. Go ahead and put this in the freezer for about an hour so it can start to thicken while you prep your next step.
- Prepare your marshmallow cream and caramel. Typically, marshmallow cream is really thick. If you mix it with water (4 parts fluff to 3 parts water) you can microwave it for 15 seconds to make it runnier and easier to spread. The caramel will also need to be soft and runny. I used a caramel syrup which is already runny. If you are using regular caramel sauce, you may want to warm it first. (If you do not plan to make the ice cream balls, go ahead and melt your chocolate and crush your peanuts now.)
- After the ice cream has started to thicken, but is still soft, take it out of the freezer and drizzle the caramel sauce and marshmallow cream around the top in thick ribbons. Use a knife to swirl the ingredients into the ice cream mixture. (If you do not plan to make the ice cream balls, swirl in your melted chocolate and crushed peanuts in at this point as well. Then put back in the freezer.)
- Put pan in freezer and leave it there for 3-5 hours. The goal is for the ice cream to be just solid enough that you can start to roll into balls. The exact time that this will take depends on the thickness of your pan and how cold your freezer is.
- With the soft ice cream that has started forming, create small ice cream balls (roughly 1 to 2 tablespoons in size). One way to do this would be to actually use tablespoon measuring spoons as a sort of mold for the ice cream. Place these ice cream balls on a baking sheet with wax paper or in a freezable, nonstick storage container. If ice cream starts melting before you are done, put everything back in the freezer and continue in a couple hours, when it has hardened more. When done, all the ice cream balls in the freezer to leave overnight.
- The next day, melt your melting chocolate by putting it in a metal bowl above a pot of simmering water and stirring regularly. If you don't have melting chocolate, use the semi-sweet chocolate chips and coconut oil, and stir them together as they melt. The chocolate needs to be completely melted with no clumps.
- If you have not done so yet, crush your peanuts. If you use a blender or something similar, be careful not to over blend it, or you will end up with something more like peanut butter than a peanut crumble.
- Take your frozen ice cream balls out of the freezer and use a spoon or ladle to pour your melted chocolate over each one. It doesn't need to have full coverage. It's okay for these balls to be messy (hence the "shuffle" part of the name). While you are coating the balls in melted chocolate, sprinkle your peanut crumble over them, so that it sticks to the warm chocolate. Do this quickly and then return your ice cream truffle balls to the freezer.
- Leave in freezer for a few more hours or until ready to serve. When ready to eat, put a few truffle balls in a glass and serve with a spoon. If you want to look fancy, you can serve it in a sundae dish and top with whipped cream.
Overall, it is no exaggeration to say that this was a big hit. The flavors were rich and worked very well together. The ice cream was smooth and creamy, while the chocolate coating and peanuts gave a nice change of texture. I got a lot of compliments from my guests. This is probably one of the most successful desserts that I have made in a while. Plus, it fit very well with the theme of the film.
This entire event went really well. The food was good. The movie was good. The crowd was great. I would highly recommend this theme to anyone thinking about it.
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