Cherry Frozen Yogurt

I’ve been having fun this summer with my new Cuisinart ice-cream maker.  I’ve already made several things with it, so I was excited to find a cherry frozen yogurt recipe posted to Simply Recipes.  I’ve never known what to do with sweet cherries (I usually just work with sour cherries for baking and in pies), but this recipe gave me an idea.

I was lucky enough to find some excellent cherries last week at the farmer’s market.  I had bought some from a different vendor the week before, which were good, but these cherries are clearly superior.  They are twice as big, a darker red color, and are also much milder in flavor.  Here’s the recipe (thanks, Simply Recipes!):

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups pitted fresh cherries
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 3/4 cup sugar (more or less depending on how sweet the cherries and how sweet you want your frozen yogurt to be)
• 1/4 cup whole milk (can substitute half-and-half or cream for creamier version)
• 1 1/2 cups full fat yogurt (if you are using non or low-fat yogurt, add 2 Tbsp heavy cream)
• 2 Tbsp almond liqueur such as Amaretto (optional)

METHOD

1 Place the pitted cherries, lemon juice, and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. While the mixture is heating, use a potato masher to mash up the berries in the pot which will release some of their moisture. When all of the sugar has dissolved, remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes. Place contents in a blender and pulse until smooth.

2 Mix cherry purée, milk, and yogurt together in a bowl. Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour; the longer the mixture chills the better (can chill overnight).

3 Right before processing in an ice cream maker, add the almond liqueur if using. The alcohol in the liqueur will help keep the frozen yogurt smooth, but it is not necessary. Process the mixture in your ice cream maker for 25 minutes.

You can eat it right away (it will be rather soft) or put it in the freezer for a few hours to harden up a bit.

Makes a little more than 1 quart.

Cherry mixture, before chilling

Because of what I had on hand, I ended up doing the recipe with skim milk, but I don’t taste a difference (but then again, I also prefer skim milk).  I did use full-fat yogurt, though, and Amaretto.  I don’t have a cherry pitter, which might have made the prep process easier, but I was able to use a paring knife carefully so the lack of the gadget didn’t slow me down.  In all, this was an easy-to-follow recipe with spectacular results.  I highly recommend this recipe and hope that sweet cherries are still in season so you can get some and try it.