Timberline Homestead A self sufficient homesteading life
Santa brought us a frozen yogurt /ice cream machine and boy have I had a ball experimenting with it. After a few gelato (YUM!) recipes, which I will be sharing soon, I decided it was time to find a less sugary alternative. The answer? Homemade Frozen Yogurt! The idea of a frozen dessert machine was enormously appealing because who really wants to spend 5 bucks for a measly amount of overpriced mass produced ice cream? Not me. And I don’t like the alternative which is cheap, poor quality, mass produced ice cream or frozen yogurt.
The ingredients are simple as can be:
2 Cups Natural Plain Yogurt….no sweeteners, no added flavors, no junk- just milk, cream, pectin and cultures.
1/2 Cup Whole Milk
1/4 Cup Sugar- this is generally about 1/3 the amount of sugar called for in an Ice Cream recipe. Plus, you can substitute other natural sweeteners. Honey, agave nectar, fruit juice…
1 tsp Vanilla- This is optional but I like the smooth taste it gives the tangy yogurt
Mix it all together and pour it into the churning frozen yogurt machine. We have a Cuisinart ICE-20 Series Automatic Frozen Yogurt – Ice cream and Sorbet Maker.
The yogurt will churn for about 20 minutes until it has thickened. Meanwhile, prepare the fruit part (if you desire a fruity frozen yogurt). I used a blend of fresh-frozen fruit chunks including strawberries and peaches. Use any combo you like. Puree it until smooth. I added a dash of fruit juice as well.
By now the frozen yogurt is thick.
Add the fruit puree. For a swirl, don’t allow the machine to churn more than a few times. Otherwise, you’ll have a uniformly colored and flavored strawberry and peach frozen yogurt. Eat it right away or transfer it to a freezer safe container to allow it to set up more firmly.
Easy enough, right? With such few ingredients this will be simple to convert to an organic frozen yogurt. I can hardly contain my excitement to try frozen yogurt with fruit fresh from the garden in the summer. DEEEEEE-lish.
