Monday, November 14, 2005

Mondays with Maida - Light Rocky Roads


Page 90 in the old book / page 134 in the new book

Light Rocky Roads consist of a thin brown sugar cookie with nuts (I used walnuts) topped much like the Dark Rocky Roads with marshmallow, chocolate, and more nuts. The Light Rocky Roads have a thinner layer of marshmallow than the Dark Rocky Roads, which I preferred. I also preferred the consistency of the marshmallow, which was a little gooier - probably because I let it go a little too long in the oven.

For some reason I had this idea before making these that the base would be crisp and almost sugary, but it was not. Neither was it cakey or chewy - maybe crumbly best describes it. I didn't think the base added much at all to these cookies. If sometime in the future I found myself wanting a Rocky Road, I'd probably use the brownie base from the Dark Rocky Roads and the topping (a thinner layer of marshmallow and chocolate rather than chocolate icing) from these.

The reviews were sort of a mixed bag for Light Rocky Roads...

Suzanne: "Don't be fooled by the word "Light". This cookie (brownie) was sweeter than the "Dark" Rocky Road cookie. Rating - 3.0"

Denny: "Very good and awfully chocolatey. Rating - 4.0"

Laura: "Tasty, yummy, gooey - Delicious! Rating - 4.0"

Phil: "A strange combination of textures and flavors which tasted a bit like a tollhouse cookie with marshmallow on top. Esthetically not particularly enticing and a bit too sugary even for this sweet tooth. For Rocky Road adventurers stay on the dark side. Rating - 3.3"

Overall rating by the panel - 3.6

Next week - Butterscotch Brownies

Nutrition Facts

8 comments:

Reid said...

Hi Cathy,

This just doesn't scream Rocky Road to me for some reason. Maybe it's because of the base. Based upon Phil's comment (who I've come to trust), I have to say that I'd probably not like these either.

BTW...Ever thought of turning the results of these baking experiments into a book like the Julie/Julia project?

Joycelyn said...

hi cathy, while the texture may not have been exactly what you expected, it sounds delicious to me...i'm getting a sugar high just looking at that delectable picture...

Niki said...

Oooh, but they *look* so pretty!

Cathy said...

Hi Reid - I agree, you just gotta have that brownie on the bottom! No on the book - if you saw me struggling to write each post, you wouldn't ask! :-) My original thought in doing this (and what I still plan to do) is to create a notebook for each of my neices (who are 7 years and 17 months old) which I will give to them along with the cookbook some day.

Hi Jocelyn - thanks! Yes, they're definitely sweet!

Hi Niki - thanks - I guess chocolate, marshmallow and nuts are always appealing!

Nic said...

I'm a little disappointed with the reviews of this one, so I'm glad that you offered a suggestion for the untimate rocky roads. These bars look a bit like s'mores to me, though, so I might give them a try after a few modifications of my own.

Cathy said...

Hi Nic - I think I'd be tempted to swap some nice bittersweet chocolate for the chocolate chips too. In fact, it might be easier to drizzle melted chocolate over the top rather than trying to spread melted chocolate chips on top of that marshmallow. I don't know why Maida makes such an issue of not allowing the marshmallow to melt, as I did prefer the firmer, gooier texture in these.

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness! Yummy stuff! I could use a sugar rush right now along with a double espresso! Just wanted to stop by for a quick hello... being offline for awhile created another big task---now I gotta tend to the emails!!!

Cathy said...

Hi Rowena!! I've missed you - glad you're back on-line!