Frozen yogurt

I've been craving frozen yogurt or ice cream, but since I won't be going shopping till the end of the week, I thought I'd experiment and see what happened. I took several of the 6 oz containers of fruit yogurt that I always have on hand, and put them in the freezer overnight. Of course they froze too solid to eat as an ice cream consistency, so I put a frozen one back in the fridge for a couple of hours to soften a little. Taa-daa!!! - I was now able to eat it as a frozen desert. It was a little icier in it's consistency than regular ice cream, but a very acceptable substitute.

I'd like to make some homemade frozen yogurt, but don't have an ice cream maker, and most recipes I found call for one. I did find one that doesn't require the maker - just a lot of stirring. Does anyone have any recipes for any frozen yogurt that doesn't require an ice cream machine???

Homemade Frozen Yogurt (without an ice cream maker!)


Makes: as much as you need
Cooking time: 3-4 hours
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

plain, thick, full-fat yogurt (at least 2%)

flavourings for yogurt, such as:

jams or jellies
fruit favored baby food
vanilla extract
fresh fruit puree
fruit sauce
Nutella
espresso (or instant coffee)
maple or blueberry syrups
caramel sauce
* All of the above are suggestions for flavors

The basic method: Put around 2-3 cups of yogurt in a freezer-safe bowl or container. Mix your flavouring through and place in freezer for 1-2 hours. Using fork, stir mixture thoroughly, scraping the sides to mix in the partially frozen bits, breaking these up into smaller chunks. Put back in freezer for another 1-2 hours. Repeat stirring process. Freeze again, then remove and stir once more before scooping into bowls for serving. Enjoy

Hint: The creamy sauces, baby food, fruit puree, syrups make for a creamier frozen treat.

If you want to get more creative! Here's an example of something to try. In 2 separate bowls make 2 different flavours. The larger one (about 1.5 cups yogurt), 1 small jar of apple mango baby food stirred through it. The second bowl,about 3/4 cup yogurt and about 3 tbsp blackberry jam mixed through it.freeze as above, both separately until completely frozen, then gently mixed them together before serving with a bit of freshly grated nutmeg and chocolate. The sky's the limit if you do not fear experimenting some. Have fun & enjoy your own special flavored treats.

Thanks Michelle - the recipe I found was quite similar. It was for Mango frozen yogurt, and it also called for milk and honey in the recipe, in addition to the plain yogurt. The concept was the same - freeze and stir - freeze and stir - freeze and stir. Of course I presume I could use about anything in place of mangoes too.

Anything goes. Apple sauce and cinnamon are great. Canned peached with the syrup (mashed together) is amazing. Same goes for pears. Frozen or fresh berries mashed with some honey or liquid sweetener. The thicker yogurt is better cause it doesn't get as 'icey' as the thinner stuff. The thicker stuff keeps a creamier texture.