I thought I’d try several recipes to see if I could make a good cup of frozen yogurt in the style of Pinkberry frozen yogurt.
Recipe 1
2 1/2 cup Trader Joe’s Greek-style yogurt (nonfat)
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Stir together all the ingredients and refrigerate for 1 hour. Then freeze in a commercial ice cream machine for about 30 minutes.
I tried this the other day and I thought it was way to sweet. I had already cut the sugar down from the original recipe. However, I could barely stand to eat it – it was so sweet. The texture was quite creamy, which is unlike the icy texture of Pinkberry style yogurt. The yogurt also does not freeze well. After sitting overnight in the freezer, it became quite hard – definitely too hard to scoop. It would have made a better popsicle.
Recipe 2
2 1/2 cups 2% fat Trader Joe’s Greek style yogurt
1/3 cup 2% milk
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine all ingredients and stir until everything is well mixed. Freeze in a commercial ice cream maker for about 30 minutes.
I tried this recipe last night and it got pretty good reviews from my friends. This recipe comes closer to achieving the icy texture of Pinkberry style soft serve yogurt, since it contains more water from the half and half and milk. I like the sugar level here much better as well. The frozen yogurt was light, refreshing, tangy (but not too sour), and slightly sweet. Because I served this immediately after making it, I was not able to check out its freezing capabilities. I’m guessing that it would become even harder, since it has more water content and still not enough fat. Nevertheless, if you plan on eating it within a few hours, it should have pretty good texture.
Recipe 3
1 quart Trader Joe’s Lowfat Organic Yogurt
3 x 2.13 oz Yang Le Duo (yogurt drink)
I have not gotten around to this one yet because I need to buy the yogurt drink. I may be less inclined now since I really like Recipe 2. I’ll update this blog entry if I ever make the third one.
All Rights Reserved
So I tried the first recipe since it was so popular on the web but didn’t think it was anything close to Pinkberry. Then Larry introduced me to a recipe that used sour cream mixed with yogurt and it tasted a lot more like Pinkberry’s! It’s kind of gross if you think about it, but it was wonderfully tangy and just a little thicker (less icy) than Pinkberry. I think if I ever try to make it again I’d use non-fat yogurt and low-fat sour cream. =)
I made this today…I added 1/2 cup of buttermilk, and cream instead of half and half. I also added the juice of 2 lemons for tang and to thin in out a little. I used Greek Gods brand yogurt, which is slightly thicker than TJ’s version. It turned out quite lovely, topped with diced grapes, clementines, and raspberries!
I think you need to add xanthum gum for the freezing problem.
I tried #2 and it was great. I didn’t have the half and half so I used more 2%. It was tangy and creamy. We ate it right from the machine. It could have used a few minutes in the freezer but it was setting up nicely with out it. I put the rest in the freezer so we will see how that turns out. Thanks for the great and easy instructions.
I’ll
back again for sure, thanks for great article 😀
I used the following recipe:
3C Fage fat free yogurt
3/4 C 2% milk
Little less than 1/2 C Sugar
1/4 C Agave Nectar
1 1/2 t Vanilla
Juice from 1/2 lemon
We grabbed some pinkberry to compare, and could hardly tell the difference. amazing, and so much cheaper!