maple frozen yogurt.

I. Can't. Stop. Making. Ice cream/ Frozen yogurt.

And I'm most unlikely to, especially after tasting this yogurt. It's hard to believe- no ice cream maker and just two ingredients. The texture is unbelievable. This batch has the best texture amongst all the ice cream/ frozen yogurt recipes I've tried so far. The ice crystals are tiny and it doesn't melt into a puddle immediately after you scoop it out! My best ever vanilla gelato was smoother but I felt like I was racing against it to avoid ending up with soup.

I realized something very important when making this. And this piece of information is very very crucial.

Are you ready?

Before churning the base, it has to be...

Cold. Absolutely. positively. cold. 

This isn't quite the shocking revelation, I know, but it's a mistake I've been making the past few times. I thought because I wasn't using an ice cream maker, I could start freezing and whisking once the base is room temperature. I never really gave it a chance to chill completely in the fridge for a few hours beforehand. I thought that it wouldn't make a difference to hand-churned ice creams.

Oh but how wrong I was. True, I can't produce ice cream in mere minutes like an ice cream maker, but when the base is cold, I cut down hours of whisking time. What took me 4 to 5 hours can now be accomplished in 2. Even if you don't mind the extra waiting, it's bad for your frozen dessert. More time taken to freeze to the right consistency means a higher chance of large ice crystals forming and you'll ultimately end up with an icier dessert. So do yourself and your ice cream a favor and just chill. 

As proud as I am about the texture, I felt that the flavour could be improved. The maple component was barely noticeable, most probably because my maple syrup isn't strong enough. I should have added maple extract in that case, but I couldn't find any at a short notice. The maple froyo was in limbo- not really tasting of maple yet it had a muddy flavour because the syrup shielded some of the yogurt's tartness. And I did feel that it was a little sweet. If I make this again with a neutral sweetener, and trust me, I will, I would reduce the sugar to 1/2 cup.

It isn't necessary to use expensive Greek yogurt for a luscious, creamy texture. I used normal yogurt, 2% in fact, and I'm very thrilled with the results! Just make sure that the yogurt you use isn't too watery or the texture of the final product will be affected. Now I won't have to spend ridiculous amounts of moolah on froyo chains!

Maple Frozen Yogurt
makes about 1 quart
adapted from The Perfect Scoop 

3 cups plain yogurt
3/4 cup maple syrup

Stir together the yogurt and maple syrup and refrigerate until completely cold.

Freeze in your ice cream maker according to your manufacture's instructions or if you don't have one like I do, (yay! join the club!) empty the base into a shallow container and place it in the freezer, whisking every half an hour until it has thickened up to the consistency of soft-serve ice cream. After that, you can just leave it to freeze until hard or enjoy immediately.

Linked to These Chicks Cooked, Sweet Treats Thursday, Full Plate Thursday, Sweet Tooth Friday, Fat Camp Friday, Sweets for a Saturday, Strut Your Stuff Saturday and Sweet Indulgences Sunday.