Well, I have tackled Round One with Froyo! I decided that for my first attempt at ice cream, I’d actually like to make its lighter cousin: frozen yogurt. With several recipes telling me different things, I also decided to start by making up a recipe of my own. Pretty brave for the first attempt at making ice cream, dontcha think?
When I was a kid, I remember getting so excited to visit my grandparents during the summer for many reasons, but one reason in particular still gets me excited: homemade ice cream. My grandparents have the old fashioned metal cylinder, propped in a plastic bucket with a crank handle, type of ice cream maker. The one you fill with your ice cream mix (chocolate Butterfinger, of course), insert the wooden and metal arm that stirs it, then put it in the bucket where you pile in ice and chunky salt and then crank till your arm falls off. We’d take turns cranking. My turn to crank was always close to the beginning when it was way easier, because my most important job was to sit on top of the bucket to weigh it down as it became harder to crank it while keeping the bucket steady towards the end (it’s difficult to explain unless you know what I’m talking about…and being the person designated to weigh down the bucket doesn’t seem so flattering now that I am looking back on the whole experience…). When it was all finished, we’d race to the kitchen, spoons in hand, while grandma dished out the freshly churned ice cream. There really is nothing like it, and no matter how good a store-bought ice cream tastes, there’s always that lingering wish that it was hand-cranked in your grandparents’ backyard…because that would make it ten times better!
Anyways, I devised my own recipe for frozen yogurt. The first batch I made was mint with mini chocolate chips. It would have been way better if I had crème de menthe, but I only had mint extract. This is one of those ice cream flavors that truly tastes best as an ice cream, because the froyo base just does not do the flavors justice. A more successful flavor was the strawberry froyo I made next. This had such a rich strawberry flavor, all from real strawberries! For a half batch (which is best if you’re not going to guzzle froyo for the next few hours):
~2 cups plain yogurt
~1 cup whole milk
~1/4 cup sugar
~1/8 cup splenda
~appx 6 large strawberries
~splash of vanilla extract
First I put the sugar and 2/3 cup of the milk in a large bowl and used a hand mixer to beat for 2 min until well incorporated. Then I mixed in (using a fork or spatula) 1 and 2/3 cup yogurt and the vanilla extract. In a small blender (Magic Bullet!) blend together the strawberries, Splenda, 1/3 cup milk, and 1/3 cup yogurt until smooth. Mix the strawberry mixture into the rest of the ingredients. Pour into your ice cream maker and freeze per instructions (mine only takes 25 min!).
It turned out to be such a bold and summery flavor which I feared I’d only be able to achieve if I had wild strawberries…but I didn’t (yay for Costco strawberries) and it turned out perfect! An ice cream and froyo habit is starting. Hope my boyfriend is ready to add extra walks to our activities because we’re gonna be eating a lot more ice cream!
