Coconut Pinkcherry Frozen Yogurt

For Christmas 2008, I got an ice cream maker from one of my favorite dancers and David Lebovitz' "The Perfect Scoop", an incredible ice cream cookbook, from my favorite Mel! Let me tell you, I have since put both to good use!

If you have an ice cream maker you NEED this book (and if you don't have one, consider purchasing one...I have this Cuisinart model). So far I've made Toasted Coconut, Vietnamese Coffee, Tiramisu, and Butterscotch Pecan.

I have also made Coconut Pinkcherry frozen yogurt which is adapted from the book on Smittenkitchen.com (my favorite blog!).

This recipe and the Vietnamese Coffee recipe are both relatively light. The other two, not so much. But the good thing about making your own ice cream is that you can't make very much at a time (my machine makes 1 ½ quarts = 6 cups = 12 ½-cup servings) and you have total control over the ingredients. You can limit the sugar (and fat sometimes), and there are no crazy additives, artificial colors and flavors, or preservatives. And you can use all organic ingredients like I did.  Gotta love it!

Another good thing...you really have to work for this ice cream. You have to freeze the churning bowl for 24 hours (although mine stays in the freezer…ready to go at all times!), buy the ingredients, make the ice cream base, and then freeze for 30 minutes in the machine. You won't do this all of the time...only for a "special treat".

I eat ice cream in a small bowl...its a visual thing. A ½ cup serving (or maybe a little more…) looks like a lot more in a small coffee cup than in a big soup bowl.

By the way, this frozen yogurt is good...I mean really good! I hope you have an ice cream maker and can enjoy it as much as I do.

Coconut Pinkcherry Yogurt
adapted from smittenkitchen.com

Makes about 1 ¼ quarts (or 10 ½-cup servings)

3 cups Greek yogurt or strained yogurt*…fat free or not (I’ve used both)
¾ cup sugar
½ teaspoon almond extract
¾ cup cherries, pits removed and roughly chopped (I used frozen…and ended up using the whole 10oz bag)
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (I used full-fat, but lite would probably work as well)

Mix together the yogurt, sugar, almond extract, cherries, and coconut milk. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

* To make 1 cup of strained yogurt, line a mesh strainer with a few layers of cheese cloth (I use coffee filters), then scrape 16 ounces or 2 cups of plain yogurt into the cheesecloth. Gather the ends and fold them over the yogurt, set the strainer over a bowl, and then refrigerate for at least 6 hours. Make sure you use all-natural yogurt (I like Dannon), because if there are any additives, the yogurt might not strain as well.

Per ½-cup serving…using fat free yogurt (117g**) - 150 calories, 5 g fat (4 g saturated), 20 g carbohydrates, 18 g sugar, 0 g fiber, 8 g protein, 7%DV calcium (exchanges: 1 fat, ½ dairy, 1 starch)

Compare to Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia Frozen Yogurt:

Per ½-cup serving (100g**) - 160 calories, 3 g fat (2 g saturated), 32 g carbohydrates, 22 g sugar, 0 g fiber, 4 g protein, 15%DV calcium

INGREDIENTS: Skim Milk, Water, Liquid Sugar, Corn Syrup, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Cherries, Cream, Sugar, Corn Syrup Solids, Egg Yolks, Coconut Oil, Natural Flavors, Cocoa (Processed With Alkali), Cocoa, Carob Bean Gum, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Caramel Color, Red Cabbage Juice Extract (For Color), Milkfat, Soya Lecithin, Yogurt Cultures

Compare to Dreyer's Slow Churned Yogurt Blends Black Cherry Vanilla Swirl:

Per ½-cup serving (60 - 65g**) - 100 calories, 3 g fat (1.5 g saturated), 17 g carbohydrates, 13 g sugar, 0 g fiber, 2 g protein, 10%DV calcium

INGREDIENTS: skim milk, sugar, cream, cultured skim milk, corn syrup, maltodextrin, whey, mono and diglycerides, milk minerals concentrate, natural flavors, guar gum, locust bean gum, carrageenan, Blue #1, annatto color, Red #40

**Note the serving size weight. With the slow churned you are eating the same volume but about half the weight; basically you are eating a lot of air which has no calories...that's why the Dryer's has about 50 calories less than the other two.

Cherry Almond Muffins

When I lived in Houston I saved a recipe from the Houston Chronicle for Treebeard's Fresh Pear Cake. I love pears and I found it interesting that the recipe called for soaking the pears in the oil and sugar for an hour before adding the entire mixture to the dry ingredients. But, unless it's a special occasion, I hardly ever bake cakes...it's too tempting to have a whole cake around the house. I do like to turn cake recipes into cupcakes or muffins (built-in portion control!). This recipe sounded like a perfect candidate for muffins...with a few healthy modifications, of course.

For the first go-round, I reduced the sugar by a quarter, replaced a quarter of the oil with skim milk, and swapped half of the flour for whole wheat pastry flour. They were so good! But not quite "light" enough for an everyday snack or breakfast.

This was last fall when pears were in season. But now that it's spring I had to try cherries! And the organic cherries were on sale today at Whole Foods! Perfect!

This time I reduced the sugar by half and replaced half of the oil with applesauce...killing 2 birds with 1 stone. The applesauce is sweet (filling in for the missing sugar) and moist (filling in for the missing oil). I still used half whole wheat flour (this time I used white whole wheat flour).

I also reduced the nuts from 1 cup to just 1/4 of a cup and sprinkled them on top of the muffins instead of stirring them into the batter. That way you still get the toasty crunch of the nuts, but save calories by using less.

Cherries are a perfect match for almonds, so I used almond extract and sliced almonds (instead of the vanilla extract and walnuts in the pear version).

The result? Delish! So moist and perfectly sweetened; the cherries are juicy and the almonds crunchy. And the best part...they are nutritious enough to enjoy for breakfast on a regular basis. I'm going to freeze some for later this week! And this recipe is endlessly adaptable for different fruit/nut/flavor combinations, so if you don't like cherries feel free to experiment!

Cherry Almond Muffins

adapted from Treebeard's Fresh Pear Cake recipe

Makes 20 - 22 muffins

4 cups cherries, pitted and halved

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 tablespoon almond extract

3 cups flour (preferably, at least half whole wheat)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup sliced almonds

Combing the cherries, sugar, oil, applesauce, and almond extract in a large mixing bowl. Let stand for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line muffin tins with 20 - 22 paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add the eggs to the cherry mixture and stir to combine. Add the dry ingredients and stir until just combined (about 10 stirs...don't over mix!).

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups (a scant 1/4 cup per muffin...I used a small ice cream scoop). Sprinkle the sliced almonds on top, slightly pressing them into the batter.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool muffins for 5 minutes in the tins, and then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Freeze some in zip-top bags to reheat for later (and so you don't eat them all at once!).

Per serving - 193 calories, 7 g fat (1 g saturated), 30 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 15 g sugar, 4 g protein (exchanges: 2 starches, 1 fat)