Blueberry Frozen Yogurt — The Weekender
When I was 7 years old, my parents’ best friends opened a frozen yogurt business. Their store took plain yogurt and swirled in different fruits, bits of candy and sauces to make your ideal frozen treat. To a kid, having this kind of access to dessert was magical, and my sister and I would regularly beg to be taken to the shop on weekends and summer evenings (where they’d give us extra toppings and overflowing cups of yogurt).
Sadly, the flow of frozen yogurt soon ended when my family moved from Los Angeles to Portland, Ore. Not only did we leave our friends’ shop behind, the cooler climate of the Pacific Northwest wasn’t nearly as welcoming to frozen yogurt as Southern California; frozen yogurt suddenly became quite hard to come by.
Still, thanks to that early conditioning, I’ve had a lifelong affinity for frozen yogurt. I’ve enjoyed the recent resurgence of shops selling the stuff in six or eight flavors, but I always wonder exactly what they’re putting in there to make it taste just like white chocolate or strawberries and cream.
Recently, with these concerns about what I was eating, I decided to try my hand at making my own frozen yogurt. I dug around for a recipe that used simple ingredients and found this one for Blueberry Frozen Yogurt from the Neelys. It features Greek yogurt, blueberries, lemon juice and just enough sugar to cut the tartness. It's so tasty, it takes me right back to the frozen yogurt of my childhood and is perfect for The Weekender.
Before you start blending your berries, here are a few things you should know:
- Make sure you put your ice cream maker insert into the freezer a full day before you want to make this yogurt. If you have space, it’s a good idea to keep it in there regularly during the hot summer months.
- If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can still make this. After you stir the yogurt and fruit together, scrape it into a long, flat container and freeze. Stir it every 20-30 minutes so ice crystals don’t form.
- Don’t like blueberries? Feel free to substitute other kinds of fruit for those berries. Do know that if you use a tarter berry, you might need to add a bit more sugar to compensate.
Marisa McClellan is a food writer and canning teacher who lives in Center City Philadelphia. Find more of her food (all cooked up in her 80-square-foot kitchen) at her blog, Food in Jars. Her first cookbook, Food in Jars: Canning in Small Batches Year Round, is now available.