Having trouble finding the perfect strawberry frozen yogurt recipe? Look no further. This one produces an incredibly smooth and creamy frozen yogurt whether eaten as soft serve fresh out of the ice cream maker, or as a scoopable dessert after freezer storage. It’s never a gritty disappointment, a solid block of ice, or a crumbly mess. After hardening in the freezer, it is slightly more crumbly than a well-made custard based ice cream, but if you let it sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before scooping, you’ll find that the texture is outstanding.

Smooth and creamy strawberry frozen yogurt

Of course you can make strawberry frozen yogurt just by combining plain yogurt with sugar and strawberry puree, but it’s a bit gritty fresh out of the ice cream maker, and a block of ice after freezer storage. Mixing strained (Greek) yogurt with strawberry puree and sugar is sumptuously smooth and creamy right out of the ice cream maker, but extremely crumbly after freezer storage.

What you do here is mix strained yogurt with a strawberry custard base for flavor, body, and stability. The custard will taste too sweet, but don’t worry – you will be blending it with a lot of unsweetened yogurt. Gently cooking the berries with the custard enhances the flavor but never tastes jammy, because you don’t cook it to a boil.

There’s a special health bonus to this recipe, too. Because the yogurt is neither cooked nor blended with a hot base, the final product contains live, active cultures of probiotic bacteria. I challenge you to find another recipe for a smooth and creamy strawberry frozen yogurt that stores well, and contains live, active cultures!!

Worried about all the fat in the cream and whole milk yogurt? You can cut the cream with some milk, or try low fat yogurt, but the final product won’t be quite as rich and creamy. Or, you could use the full fat, but choose cream and yogurt from pastured cows. Dairy products from pastured cows are higher in heart-healthy omega-3 fats, and lower in omega-6 fats (the baddies). Check this out for more info on health benefits of pastured animal products. Here in Massachusetts, I get my milk and cream from High Lawn Farm’s mostly grass fed cows, and my yogurt from from Side Hill Farm’s grass fed cows.

Straberry Frozen Yogurt Recipe

Makes about 1 quart

• 1 qt of whole milk plain yogurt
• 12 oz. (about 3 cups) strawberries
• 3 eggs
• ¾ cup heavy cream
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¼ cup corn syrup
• Pinch of salt

1. Strain the yogurt through 4 layers of cheese cloth and a fine mesh strainer for at least 6 hours or overnight (refrigerated). The yield should be about 1 and 1/2 to 2 cups of strained yogurt. (Don’t discard the whey – it’s great with granola, or just drink it plain, like I do!)
   
2. Puree the berries well and heat with the cream, sugar, corn syrup, and salt in a 4 qt saucepan over medium-high heat, until it just reaches a simmer. Remove from heat
3. Temper the eggs by slowly drizzling about 1 – 1 ½ cups of the hot milk/cream mixture into the eggs, while whisking the eggs vigorously.  If you need to rest your whisking arm, be sure to stop pouring the hot mixture while you rest. This very slow addition of the hot mixture into the eggs helps prevent the eggs from scrambling.
4. Carefully pour the tempered egg mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining hot milk/cream, while whisking the contents of the saucepan. (You do not need to drizzle it, since the eggs are already tempered, but do not dump it in all at once, or you might scramble the eggs.)
5. Place the saucepan on medium-low heat, and cook, stirring constantly (preferably with a heat-proof rubber spatula, but a spoon will do), scraping all portions of the inside bottom of the pan, until the mixture thickens, and reaches a temperature of 170-175 degrees F (use a candy thermometer). It should take about 7-14 minutes to reach that temperature range, depending on your heating element, and how good the contact is between the element and the bottom of the pan (i.e., a too small heating element, or a warped pan will make this take a long time). The mixture should be noticeably thicker than the raw milk/cream mixture. Do not be tempted to crank up the heat to hasten the process, as you will risk scrambling the eggs.
6. Remove from heat, and immediately pour the hot custard through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl. This removes any little pieces of scrambled egg, as well as most of the strawberry seeds, ensuring a super smooth final product. You might need to stir the contents of the strainer and push it through with a spoon.
7. Put it straight into the refrigerator, or pre-cool it in a cold water bath for about a half hour, and then refrigerate. Stir occasionally for the first half hour, or so, of cooling.
8. Allow it to cool completely for at least 4 hours in the refrigerator, or overnight. It will thicken considerably while cooling.
   
9. Fold the completely cooled, strained base into 1 and 1/2 cups of the strained yogurt a little at a time and blend until smooth and completely combined.
10. Churn in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.  Transfer to a 1 qt container, and store in the freezer until ready to eat.

Shared on: Tuesday’s Table, Wicked Awesome Wednesday #160, Weekend ReTreat #67, Heritage Homesteaders Hop #12, Motivation Monday #91, Homestead Barn Hop #160, Tuesday’s with a Twist #59, HomeAcre Hop #71