A couple of months ago, we brought a meal over to some friends who recently welcomed the most adorable new addition to their family. As a thank you, the new dad offered me a bag full of frozen wild black raspberries he had picked last summer. He sure didn’t have to twist my arm! I almost felt bad taking them…almost. They’ve been sitting in my freezer for the past couple of months as I pondered how best to use them. The only bad thing about frozen berries is they are, you know, less than attractive after thawing. Suddenly the obvious hit me – a frozen dessert! My knee jerk reaction was of course sorbet, but then it occurred to me that maybe I should test out my homemade greek yogurt as frozen yogurt.
I was a bit concerned because the last time I made frozen yogurt was a complete and utter disaster. It was just after I had first gotten my ice cream maker and I made several rookie mistakes in one simple recipe. However, I’ve learned a thing or two about the ins and outs of frozen desserts and I knew what I needed to do to make this work. Lower fat milk and higher water content are culprits for less than ideal texture, so I used whole milk greek yogurt that had been very well strained to prevent it being rock hard or icy. I also mixed in a couple tablespoons of vanilla extract because alcohol also helps to prevent a super hard freeze. After freezing it does need to sit at room temperature maybe 15-20 minutes before scooping, but I’m happy to report that the texture was just right and the taste was lovely – a good balance of sweet from the fruit and tang from the yogurt. If you don’t have frozen wild black raspberries available to you (because really, how many of us do?) fresh or frozen raspberries will work just as well.
