Rocky Road w/ Aquafaba Marshmallows (v)
Challenge accepted, everyone. This flavor, the most technical on January's menu, relies on aquafaba (the cooking liquid of beans). The fabulously named viscous liquid borrows a great deal of the starch and proteins from the legumes, so much so that when whipped with vigor it beautifully mimics the airy structure of egg whites. (We have a French singer to thank for this valuable discovery.) So we bought hundreds of cans of white beans, which were decidedly less beany than chickpeas, and made tiny marshmallows just as we make fluff but with agar agar for more structure. Then we found ourselves with heaps of lonely white beans; not ones to perpetuate waste, we put them to use along with oat milk and cocoa powder for a protein-packed, chocolate ice cream. For that anticipated rockiness, we candied sunflower seeds to accompany the pillowy marshmallows.