Chocolate and coffee frozen yogurt

So ... I made a whole lot of yogurt recently, and then I decided that I needed some frozen yogurt.

So I made some. With chocolate and coffee. Because that's how I roll.

This made enough of the base mix for about 2 batches of ice cream in my ice cream maker. Or maybe 1 1/2 batches, considering I ended up with a bit less than two quarts, but you're better off making two batches than overfilling the freezer bowl and making a mess or under-churning..

Vanilla butternut extract is one of my favorite extract. I use it mostly in vanilla ice cream, but it's great it other things - like this chocolate frozen yogurt.

The bourbon makes this an adult ice cream, but you can certainly leave it out, if you prefer.

Chocolate and Coffee Frozen Yogurt

1 quart Greek-style yogurt (store-bought or homemade)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chocolate syrup
1/4 cup cold-brew coffee concentrate
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla butternut extract (optional)
Up to 1/4 cup bourbon (optional)

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. whisk well to combine. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight before churning in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions (dividing into multiple batches, if necessary).

Transfer to containers and freeze until firm.

Pineapple Yogurt Loaf Cake

Sometimes I get an idea in my head and I can't shake it. Like I had this idea to make a quick bread using Greek yogurt and self-rising flour.

Except I didn't have any self rising flour.

But that's easy. I always have baking soda and baking powder.

This all started when the nice folks at Yoplait sent me some of their blended Greek yogurt and a recipe for frozen blueberry breakfast bars.

The bars sounded good. Besides breakfast, I thought they'd be great for an afternoon snack or even dessert. But once the weather gets cold, I'm really not that interested in eating frozen foods. So I set the recipe aside.

And time passed. And I became obsessed with this idea of a quick bread with just a few ingredients. I mean, I've seen quick bread and biscuit recipes that are nothing more than yogurt and self-rising flour.

But I wanted a bit more than that. A few ingredients rather than two.

The first loaf was a complete train wreck. And when I say complete, I mean complete. It was gummy and nasty and inedible.

And then I was on a mission. I wanted to make a yogurt cake, and I wanted it to be good. I added more ingredients. I got closer. Then I removed some. Added some others. It was getting better, but still not blog-worthy. More yogurt, less yogurt. Milk. No milk. No eggs, one egg, two eggs, three ...

Finally, I got a loaf cake I liked. It's close to pound cake, but a little lighter. With bits of pineapple from the yogurt. A little sweet, but not too much. Moist, but not gooey. It rose nicely, but didn't dome at all, so maybe next time I'll add just a teeny bit more baking powder - I'll be trying 2 teaspoons. If you live closer to sea level than I do, for sure I suggest that for sure you add more leavening.

So, here's what I ended up with:

Pineapple Yogurt Loaf Cake

1 cup sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup, 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter at room temperature
3 eggs
2 5.3-ounce containers Yoplait Greek Pineapple Yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat the oven to 325 degrees and spray a 9x5 baking pan with baking spray - I used a ceramic pan, but metal should be fine.

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a medium bowl using a hand mixer.

Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the yogurt and beat until well blended.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until blended, then add the flour to the wet ingredients and beat until combined.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Bake at 325 degrees until the cake bounces back when lightly touched on top, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean - about 65 minutes.

Let the cake cool for a minute or two in the pan, the remove the cake from the pan and allow it to cool completely on a rack.

Soooo.... are you curious about the blueberry bars? Here's the recipe I was given. I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds pretty good. Maybe I'll make it ... when the weather warms up.

Frozen Blueberry Breakfast Bars
Recipe courtesy of Yoplait. Used with permission.
Get your yogurt and granola in a frozen bar that you can "grab and go" for breakfast or for a snack any time of day.

Prep Time: 15 Min
Start to Finish: 3 Hr 25 Min

2 1/2 cups Cascadian Farm organic oats & honey granola
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 containers (5.3 oz each) Yoplait Greek blueberry* yogurt
1/4 cup fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons Cascadian Farm organic oats & honey granola, coarsely crushed

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, mix 2 1/2 cups granola and the melted butter. Firmly press in bottom of ungreased 8-inch square pan. Bake 10 minutes. Cool 10 minutes on cooling rack. Freeze about 5 minutes or until cold.

Spoon yogurt over crust; gently spread to cover. Sprinkle with blueberries and crushed granola. Freeze about 3 hours or until firm.

Remove from freezer 10 minutes before cutting. To make bars, cut into 5 rows by 2 rows. Wrap each bar tightly in plastic wrap. Store in freezer.

These bars can be stored tightly wrapped in the freezer up to 2 weeks.

*You can use any flavor of the Yoplait Greek yogurt for this recipe.

Pineapple Yogurt Ice Cream

When Yoplait contacted me about an Emmy party, I said, um, huh? I didn't recall being nominated for an Emmy and I wasn't sure how that related to yogurt.

But then they explained that is was all about a benefit for breast cancer, and I said okay, let's eat some yogurt. Or, in my case, let's make some ice cream.

Besides getting some swag from Yoplait, I got my choice of yogurt flavors, and I was freakishly excited to see that Yoplait had a pineapple yogurt.

Way back in the stone age when yogurt was promoted as health food eaten by Tibetan wise men who lived to 200 years old*, I was pretty skeptical of the stuff.

But then I discovered pineapple yogurt. And I loved it. And then pineapple yogurt disappeared. I don't know where it went, but the flavor vanished. *poof* Gone.

Elizabeth Moss at the Emmys.

Every time I passed a display of yogurt, I'd look for pineapple. Which was easy enough back in the olden-yogurt days when there weren't as many brands.

Now, there are a lot more choices. But I still couldn't find pineapple. Every once in a while I'd spot pina colada. Which is close, except I don't like coconut. I always thought it was odd that there were so many flavors of yogurt, but no one made a pineapple yogurt.

Why?

I mean, it's not like I was looking for some sort of exotic fruit.

I muddled along adding fresh pineapple to yogurt once in a while, but I was a little giddy when I found out that now Yoplait makes a pineapple Greek yogurt, so now I can buy pineapple yogurt whenever I want it. It's a heck of a lot easier to buy a little cup rather than buying a whole fresh pineapple when I only want a little bit.

And just like their blueberry yogurt that I sampled before, this stuff tasted natural. Not like pineapple-flavored candy. Like actual pineapple. With bits of pineapple. And it made a really nice frozen dessert.

*Okay, I was a kid. Maybe I remember the commercials wrong. But it had something to do with exotic wrinkled people eating yogurt.

Pineapple Yogurt Ice Cream

2 5.3 ounce cups Yoplait Greek blended pineapple yogurt
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cups sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons whipped cream flavored vodka

Combine all ingredients and chill well. Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to a storage container and freeze until firm.

Serve.

About the Emmy party:

Jane Lynch.

Yoplait provided photos from the Variety + Women In Film Pre-Emmy Party presented by Yoplait Greek.

They said that the party, held at Scarpetta at Montage Beverly Hills, "feted this year’s female Emmy nominees" right before the 65th annual Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony.

Stars including Jane Lynch, Julie Bowen, Zac Posen, Jon Cryer, Elizabeth Moss and more walked the red carpet and lent their support to Yoplait Greek yogurt’s breast cancer initiative by licking and signing yogurt lids.

Inside, they celebrated the honorees and snacked on cups of the new blended Greek yogurt and appetizers including yogurt-filled strawberries.

So there ya go. Emmys, yogurt, and breast cancer awareness, all in one neat package.

Blueberry Yogurt Ice Cream

The great thing about getting samples of foods is that I can talk my husband into tasting them, even if it's not something he'd normally be enthusiastic about.

Like yogurt.

Recently, I got samples of Yoplait's new blended Greek yogurt, in the blueberry flavor. I thought it was pretty good, but what was really surprising was that Bob liked it. Not, hmmm, well, if I was starving in a desert somewhere, I'd eat it, but he actually ate some as snacks.

Instead of having a super-sweet blueberry flavor, like jam was mixed in, this had more of a fresh blueberry flavor. I thought it was pretty darned good, too.

And then, this happened.

Blueberry Yogurt Ice Cream

2 5.3-ounce containers Yoplait Blended Blueberry Greek Yogurt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup creme fraiche*
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons Pinnacle Whipped Vodka
1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl - or better yet, in a large measuring cup (for easier pouring). If your ice cream maker requires it, chill the mixture for a few hours. I've been using a Breville Smart Scoop, and since it has its own compressor, I can get away with churning before the ice cream base is totally cold.

Churn according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to a storage container and freeze until firm.

*If you don't happen to have creme fraiche, just use an extra 1/2 cup of heavy cream.

I received samples of the Greek yogurt from Yoplait. I was not required to write about the product.

Super-Simple Vanilla Frozen Yogurt

I was testing a new ice cream maker and didn't want to run to the store for heavy cream. And I wanted to test it RIGHT AWAY, so I didn't want to make a custard and then have to wait for it to chill.

There was a recipe in the book that suggested taking 3 1/2 cups of flavored yogurt and churning it as-is.

Well ... okay.

But that's not what I did. Because that's not exactly what I had. Ya gotta go with what you have.

This recipe is merely a suggestion. This is what I had, so it's what I used. And it worked. If you like sweets, you could add more sugar, but this was fine for me.

Vanilla Frozen Yogurt

1 16-ounce container Chobani fat-free vanilla Greek yogurt
About 8 ounces* Chobani 0% plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl (That batter bowl works well) and stir until everything is combined and you no longer feel the grittiness of the sugar in the bowl. (Oh! Look! A wooden spoon would be perfect for this!)

Transfer the mixture to your ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions.

When it's done churning, transfer the ingredients to a storage container and store in the freezer.

*I didn't measure, but I had about half of a 16-ounce container left. Close enough.

Pineapple Frozen Yogurt

One of my all-time favorite food combinations is pineapple and yogurt. Preferably fresh pineapple and Greek-style yogurt. And it's a pretty healthy treat, right?

Of course, my next step was to put some machinery to use and change that simple treat into ... well, another simple treat. Pineapple frozen yogurt. There's no cooking required and not a lot of ingredients. If you've got the pineapple and the yogurt, I'll bet you have the rest.

For the yogurt, I used mostly Wallaby 0%, but didn't have quite enough, so the rest was 2%, Use whatever you have. But you do want a Greek-style yogurt, or it will end up too icy. As it is, it freezes pretty solid, but after a few minutes it warms up to a nice consistency.

Or just eat it right out of the machine, when it's a nice soft serve consistency.

Pineapple Frozen Yogurt
Recipe © by www.cookistry.com. Do not republish without permission.

I was playing photo lighting. I think I like this one.

2 cups fresh pineapple chunks
2 cups Greek-style yogurt
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Put the pineapple in your blender and blend-blend-blend. Scrape the sides down. Blend again until it's smooth.

Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until it's all nicely mixed and as smooth as you can get it..

Dump the blender contents into your ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's directions. This is really nice straight out of the machine as a soft-serve dessert, or you can freeze it further.

3-Ingredient Vanilla Frozen Yogurt from "The Perfect Scoop"

Okay...it's a couple of scoops.

I've never had an ice cream recipe from David Lebovitz go wrong, and this one from his book The Perfect Scoop is no exception.

Except, well, it's frozen yogurt instead of ice cream.

The Vanilla Frozen Yogurt recipe offered a few variations - use plain whole-milk yogurt, strain the yogurt for a smoother, creamier consistency, or buy Greek-style yogurt. I usually make my own yogurt and strain it, but didn't have any one hand so I bought some Greek-style yogurt.

My favorite brand is Fage, and I usually buy the Fage Total, but after checking two stores, I had to settle for the Fage Total 2%, which is lower in fat. Oh well.

Lebovitz noted that strained or Greek-style yogurt could be substituted cup-for-cup for regular whole-milk yogurt in any of his recipes without any variations in the recipes, but for the Vanilla Frozen Yogurt, he had two variations - one with plain and one with strained yogurt. I followed the directions for the strained yogurt, which required a bit less sugar.

The resulting frozen yogurt was a bit - shattery - after it was in the freezer for a while, and I was worried that it would have that awful crushed-ice texture that you sometimes get in ice creams. But after the yogurt warmed just a bit, it was smooth and creamy, with no nasty ice crystals.

Here's one scoop. Pretty as a picture.

It was also a very stark white. The vanilla ice creams I make usually end up being a bit more yellow from the egg yolks, but this was very, very white since the only coloring was the tiny bit of vanilla.

There was a bit of tang from the yogurt, but that was nicely balanced by the added sugar. So it was a sweet dessert, but not overly sweet.

If you're making this, use a yogurt that you like. Since there's not much else in there, you're going to taste that yogurt's flavor.

Vanilla Frozen Yogurt
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

3 cups Greek-style yogurt
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Mix all ingredients, and refrigerate for at least an hour. Churn in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.