Monday, June 7, 2010

Homemade frozen yogurt to rival Red Mango's!

In trying to find the perfect recipe I learned a lot. WARNING you may not like me after this post! Sorry, but info is power. So did you have any idea that most frozen yougurt (fro yo) contains no Yogurt, is made from a powder mix and is loaded with chemicals. Turns out most are not good for you! Seriously I had no idea!  Just to mention one Pinkberry, so so so sad. But I am so happy to report Red Mangos is all natural, they even list all their ingredients, and it DOES contain yougurt. So thanks Red Mango for  helping me come up with this recipe.

So my family has a severe fondness for delicious expensive frozen yougurt. I too am growing quite found of it, but I am not found of the price. Hit the register and a "treat" can ring in at around the price of a meal. K the last time we visited such joint the cashier could not believe the amount Bryson has packed inot his cup, he wieghed it a few times and then said I've never seen one that full!

Needless to say I have wanted to try a recipe ever since. But I just couldn't find the right one so I took one amazing cooks recipe and added my special ingredient. Thanks to davidle bovitz, the perfect scoop (I'm DYING to try some others too) created the foundation. But I just knew I wanted the tartness, so thus acidic acid. I found it locally at Spoons n Spice, but most speciality/cake decorating stores should have it.

The best frozen yogurt

3 cups (720g) strained yogurt (see below) or Greek-style yogurt ( I used Greek God's PLAIN, 24 ounces did come out to be 3 cups. Also I went with full fat. I just felt like 1% or 2% Greek yogurt would mess with the consistency and make icy chunks, and no way was I having that.)


3/4 cup (150g) sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

1/2 tsp citric acid (for a tart similar to the local stores)

Mix together the yogurt, sugar, and vanilla (if using) and citric acid (if using). Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. I have a electric Krups, and it took 40-50 min to soft set! Follow the directions of your specific machine. Krups requires at least 24 hours of freezing the bowl before begining. So be prepared.

This is where I learned A TON....

1- Freeze the individual bowls you plan to serve the fro yo in.
2- It's just like homemade ice cream definitely soft set, I put mine in a Tupperware in the freezer to set further.
3- This fro yo is so delicious and creamy you'll like it more then ice cream (yep I said it)
4- If you go the route I went TART, it is beautiful with fresh sliced mango and strawberry.
5- DO NOT be tempted to add swirls or dashes of any type, PLEASE try it all natural with toppings of course. Then next time you'll know exactly what you want to change or add. More or less sugar, more or  less acidic acid. I think next time I'm gonna puree fresh mango and mix in during the yogurt ingredient mixing stage. Or peach maybe I'll do peach! I'm in heaven! Can't you tell?
Strained yogurt
To make 1 cup (240g) of strained yogurt, line a mesh strainer with a few layers of cheese cloth. then scrape 16 ounces or 2 cups (480g) of plain whole-milk yogurt into the cheesecloth. Gather the ends and fold them over the yogurt, then refrigerate for at least 6 hours. So, for the above recipe start with and strain 6 cups of yogurt.

Makes about 1 quart.

Enjoy KCL

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i'm lost with the draining the yogurt on a cheesecloth procedure. how do you do this? do you just try to scrape the yogurt on the cheesecloth with a spoon until all the yogurt goes through it or do you squeeze the cheesecloth with you hand to extract the yogurt?

Summer also knows as the krazy cake lady said...

You let the yogurt drain for a couple hours or over night (refrigerated) over a bowl fitted with cheese cloth on top. Or another great way is using a coffee filter in place of the cheese cloth. The bottom of the bowl will be full of excess liquid. And on top of the cloth will be thick rich greek type yogurt. Hope this made it clear let me know if you have any other questions.

KCL

Anonymous said...

How did it turn out when you added in pureed fruit etc? I would love to make peanut butter flavored or pomegranate just like at Red Mango!

emily said...

Delicious - I've tried a couple of other recipes that purport to be just like Red Mango or Pinkberry, but this really does it!

My kids liked it, but I will try adding a flavor next time b/c that's what they prefer.

Thanks for this!