Strawberry Swirl Frozen Yogurt

Don't children say the most adorable things sometimes?

Most days, when I click pictures for the blog, my daughter will (touchwood) leave me alone. Like everyone else, I think she is bemused at the entire process of taking food pictures - bending at varying angles, moving the food from one room to the other, transferring it to numerous bowls - you all know the drill better than me, I am sure. But very often, a food photo session turns into a photo session with her!

I took these pictures on Sunday afternoon and for once, she would scarcely let me take the pictures. She wanted to take the pictures herself, or strike some pose for the camera, and though she does not care too much for "pink" ice cream, she still wanted to dig in!

Inspite of the air conditioner running at full blast, the frozen yogurt was fast melting. And so, I pleaded with her to bear with me. "Mama is not getting a good picture", I explained.

"Say cheese, pink ice cream. Say cheeeeese!" she quipped in response.



Strawberry Swirl Frozen Yogurt

Ingredients:

Low Fat Yogurt - 2 lts
Low Fat Sour Cream - 250 ml
Low Fat Fresh Cream - 100 ml
Strawberry puree - 2 1/2 cups
Sugar - 3/4 cup (more or less, depending on the tartness of the berries)
Juice of half a lime
Salt - a pinch
Gelatin - 1 1/2 tsp
Water - 3 tbsp

Method:

Strain the whey from the yogurt by hanging it in a muslin cloth. At the end of 6 hours (when I ran out of patience), I had 720 gms of strained yogurt.

Puree the strawberries (unfortunately, I didnt measure the berries in gms). Strain the puree, if desired - I didn't. Add the lime juice and sugar to the puree, cook to a simmer and then cool for about an hour.

Beat the hung yogurt, sour cream and fresh cream together till you get soft peaks.

Mix the water and gelatin together and let it stand for about 5 minutes; then, melt the gelatin by stirring it over a bowl of hot water. Cool it to room temperature.

Reserve 1/4 cup of the strawberry sauce and add the rest to the yogurt. Slowly, stir in the gelatin, add a pinch of salt and blend everything together thoroughly.

Freeze.....

Lucky you if you have an ice cream maker - just follow the manufacturer's instructions.

If you don't, there's some work involved - every time the yogurt is nearly set, whiz it in the mixie. And mash it with the back of a spoon every two hours.

I know how difficult it is to not just sit and eat it up - I had Terradaze ask me so many times if we could (at last) eat it! However, I wanted the consistency to be just right - soft and creamy- and so, I processed it 6 times before I was happy with the consistency.

To get the swirl pattern, when the yogurt is half frozen, add the reserved strawberry sauce to it in three additions and gently stir in with a skewer after each addition to create a marbled effect - doesn't it look absolutely wonderful?




Let it set and without any further ado, serve as soon as it sets.

Notes:

This frozen yogurt is best eaten as soon as it sets. If not, then take it out of the freezer and let it soften for about 5 mins before serving.

And much as I hate to say this, full fat yogurt and cream with give better results and faster!

This is my entry for My Favourite Things - Frozen Desserts that I am guest hosting, a lovely event conceived by Bindiya.

Have you made you favourite FROZEN DESSERT yet? Yes? Send it over soon :)