Chocolate Peanut Butter Rocky Road

I lived in Australia for 3 years working as a product developer developing a line of cake mixes. It was in Australia that I discovered the wonderful treat Rocky Road which is hard not to love since it is most chocolate with heaps of delicious goodies mixed in. My Chocolate Peanut Butter Rocky Road is so smooth and creamy from lots of peanut butter seamlessly blended with milk and dark chocolate. It sets to the most silky texture with lots of contrast from crunchy salty pretzels, soft chewy marshmallows and peanut butter cups throughout. Here's a perfect no-bake Easter treat to put all of your extra holiday candy to good use. It's an easy no-bake treat to make with the family. If you love this idea, also check out my White Chocolate Peanut Butter Rocky Road with Cadbury milk chocolate mini eggs.

WHY YOU WILL LOVE THIS RECIPE

• Fast & easy to make - this simple treat comes together in just one bowl with only five ingredients. It's a great treat to make with kids.
• No-Bake dessert - there's no baking involved to make rocky road. You simply melt some ingredients together and then fold in the goodies.
• Rich peanut butter flavor - if you love peanut butter, then you will certainly love this rocky road as it is one of the main ingredients.
• Sweet and salty taste - salty peanut butter and pretzels combined with sweet milk chocolate, semi sweet dark chocolate and marshmallows is such an irresistible and highly addictive combination!
• Lots of texture - the crunchy pretzels, soft chewy marshmallows and smooth creamy chocolate makes an exciting treat for the taste buds!
• Smooth texture - the addition of peanut butter and a bit of coconut oil makes this set up firm, yet smooth and not brittle so it has the most wonderful texture.

INGREDIENTS

• Milk Chocolate - pure milk chocolate is the main ingredient in this recipe and forms the base of this rocky road. Use a fine quality since the taste really matters here. Pure milk chocolate has only cocoa butter as the source of fat on the ingredient list and there shouldn't be any hydrogenated oils or other vegetable fats.
• Dark chocolate - I use a blend of milk chocolate and dark chocolate to balance the sweetness and also provide the perfect amount of set so these aren't hard nor too soft.
• Peanut butter - I use smooth creamy dark roast peanut butter for this recipe to get an intense peanut butter taste. I recommend using the regular (emulsified) kind of peanut butter such as Jif or Skippy with added salt. The salt will balance the sweetness of the white chocolate and marshmallows.
• Coconut oil - this gives the base a silky, almost icy texture that melts so nicely in your mouth while still holding a nice set. Coconut oil is a very interesting fat because it has two distinct fat fractions. It contains highly saturated fats with a very high melting point and then it also contains medium chain triglycerides which have a low melting point and are liquid at room temperature. This is different to butter which has a wide range of fatty acids, giving it a very gradual melting profile. Coconut oil almost has an "icy" feeling to it because it takes so much energy to melt that your mouth cools down in doing so, then when it melts its like straight to liquid.
• Marshmallows - I use mini marshmallows here. You can also use regular-sized marshmallows, however if you do, then cut them in into quarters with scissors before mixing them in.
• Peanut butter cups - the obvious choice is Reese's cups, but they're not the most delicious, so use your favorite brand of peanut butter cups (milk or dark) for this recipe.
• Pretzels - I use mini pretzel twists and break them up into pieces. You can also use pretzel sticks.

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS

• STEP 1). Melt chocolate. Add chopped chocolate to a large heatproof bowl and set it over a pot with ½-inch of simmering water. Add peanut butter and coconut oil and stir frequently until it is completely melted and smooth.
• STEP 2). Cool. Let this mixture cool for 10-15 minutes. If it is too warm, it will melt the chocolate coating on the peanut butter cups.
• STEP 3). Add in the goodies. Add the broken pretzels, mini marshmallows and chopped peanut butter cups. Fold them in gently until everything is evenly coated with the white chocolate mixture.
• STEP 4). Set. Spread the mixture evenly into your prepared pan and sprinkle extra mini peanut butter cups, marshmallows and pretzels on top. Place it in the fridge for 2 hours until set before slicing into squares.

EXPERT TIPS

• Use a good quality chocolate with a high cocoa butter content. This is called "couverture" chocolate because it is used for making confectionery in applications for coating, dipping and drizzling.
• Melt the chocolate gently. I recommend using the double boiler melted to ensure that you do not over-heat the chocolate. Avoid using the microwave which is a more intense heating method. Milk chocolate is more prone to burning due to its high milk solids content and it is very easy to over-heat milk chocolate in the microwave. If it is over-heated, it will seize up, clump and be impossible to melt smoothly.
• Use regular smooth peanut butter. I do not recommend natural peanut butter for this recipe which is the runny, drippy kind that separates.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Rocky Road

Christina Marsigliese

Smooth and delicious chocolate peanut butter "fudge" with all sorts of textures from soft chewy marshmallows, crunchy salted pretzels and chocolate peanut butter cups! This is an easy no-bake treat and great to serve around the holidays or make with the kids for a fun weekend activity.

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Chill Time 1 hour hr

Servings 16 squares

Ingredients

  

• 5 oz 142g pure milk chocolate, chopped
• 5 oz 142g semisweet dark chocolate, chopped
• ¾ cup 180g smooth peanut butter
• 1 ½ tablespoon 20g coconut oil
• 1 ½ cup 80g mini marshmallows plus extra for topping
• 1 cup 50g mini pretzel twists, roughly broken into smaller pieces plus extra for topping
• 12 peanut butter cups cut in half
• mini peanut butter cups for topping (optional)

Instructions

 

• Line an 8x8-inch baking pan with parchment paper so that the paper comes up all sides of the pan and set aside. If using regular-sized or larger marshmallows, cut them into quarters using scissors or a knife.
• Prepare a double boiler by placing a heat-proof bowl over a medium-sized pot with about an inch of gently simmering water. Place both types of chocolate, coconut oil and peanut butter into the bowl and stir frequently until completely melted and smooth.
• Remove from over the heat and let cool for 10 minutes. If the mixture is too warm then it will melt the peanut butter cups. Add marshmallows, pretzels and chopped peanut butter cups and fold them in.
• Spread the mixture out evenly into the prepared pan and sprinkle a few extra broken pretzels, marshmallows and mini peanut butter cups on top. Place it in the fridge for 2-3 hours until completely set and solid.
• Remove from fridge and lift rocky road out from the pan. Slice it into squares and enjoy!